NASA's SpaceX Crew 3 mission is finally set to conclude its mission and return to Earth after nearly six months of working and living in space.
According to Space.com, Crew-3's Dragon spacecraft will depart the International Space Station (ISS) on May 5 at 1:05 a.m. EDT and splashdown off the coast of Florida on May 6 at 12:37 a.m. EDT.
Crew-3 was supposed to depart the ISS on May 4 evening and return to Earth on May 5.
SpaceX Changes Crew-3 Return Trip
The weather is to blame for the delay of Crew-3's return trip, giving the astronauts aboard the ISS a few additional hours on the space station.
Kathy Lueders, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's chief of human spaceflight, said in a tweet that the modified departure date and time allows for shorter phasing and more time to examine the newest prediction material.
In a follow-up tweet, Lueders said the weather in Florida is being actively monitored to ensure the capsule's primary and alternate locations are suitable for its return.
Weather is being watched closely to confirm selected primary & alternate sites are good for return, and we’ll conduct another weather review about 24-hours before undocking to determine whether we are GO to proceed. More to come.
— Kathy Lueders (@KathyLueders) May 3, 2022
About 24 hours before the capsule departs from the ISS, the crew will do another weather evaluation to determine if the voyage can be approved.
SpaceX's Crew 3 consists of four astronauts: Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and Mattias Maurer, a German astronaut from the European Space Agency.
SpaceCenter.org said Kayla and Raja had been chosen for the Artemis missions to be the first woman and first person of color to travel to the moon.
SpaceX has a history of return missions being postponed due to inclement weather. The Guardian and a separate Space.com article said the return flight of SpaceX's Crew-2 was also delayed by a day owing to heavy winds off the Florida coast.
Crew-2's return flight was initially scheduled for November 7, 2021, due to strong winds that made the return route unpleasant, NASA authorities postponed the flight to the afternoon of November 8 to give the wind time to settle down.
About SpaceX Crew-3
At 1:10 a.m. ET on November 2, SpaceX Crew-3 launched from the Kennedy Space Center on its way to the International Space Station. Due to adverse weather conditions near the space complex, NASA postponed the launch. A huge storm system was sweeping over the Ohio Valley and the northeastern United States at the time, forcing them to push back the launching date.
Another reason for the delay is a "small medical concern" affecting one of the crew members, Space.com reported.
Crew-3 landed at the International Space Station on Nov. 10, 2021, at 6:32 p.m. EST, commencing a six-month stay in space for Chari, Marshburn, Barron, and Maurer to conduct "new and intriguing" scientific study in subjects such as materials science, health technology, and plant science.
According to NASA, these experiments will help astronauts to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit while also benefiting life on Earth.
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