Due to a large storm system meandering across the Ohio Valley and through the northeastern United States this weekend, elevating winds and waves in the Atlantic Ocean along the Crew Dragon flight path for the Oct. 31 launch attempt, NASA and SpaceX are now targeting 1:10 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Nov. 3, for the agency’s Crew-3 launch to the International Space Station.
For a Nov. 3 launch attempt, weather conditions throughout the ascent corridor are projected to improve, and the 45th Weather Squadron prediction predicts an 80% chance of acceptable weather conditions at the launch site.
NASA astronauts Raja Chari, mission commander, Tom Marshburn, pilot, and Kayla Barron, mission specialist, and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, also a mission specialist, will launch from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket.
Crew-3 astronauts are set to go on a long-duration science mission onboard the orbiting laboratory, where they will live and work as part of a seven-person crew.
Crew-3 would launch on Nov. 3 and arrive at the space station at 11 p.m. the same day. For a brief exchange with the astronauts who travelled to the station as part of SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission on Wednesday, Nov. 3.
Crew-2 NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet are all scheduled to return to Earth in early November. The astronauts from Crew-3 are scheduled to return in late April 2022.
Due to bad weather expected in the flight path for the Sunday, Oct. 31, launch attempt, the launch has been rescheduled for 1:10 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Nov. 3, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The 45th Weather Squadron forecasts an 80% chance of acceptable weather conditions at the launch site on Wednesday, Nov. 3. Weather conditions throughout the ascent corridor are projected to improve for a Wednesday, Nov. 3 launch.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 members will stay at Kennedy Space Center’s crew quarters until their launch. In the coming days, they will spend time with their family and get technical and weather briefings.
