Why did NASA postpone the SpaceX flight?
For the second time in a row, NASA has decided to postpone the launch of Crew Dragon, the SpaceX spacecraft carrying four astronauts to take to the International Space Station: the Agency spoke of a "minor medical problem"
Rarity in space: NASA has postponed the launch of SpaceX on the International Space Station (ISS) for "medical problem".
It is NASA's first delay since 1990, when the commander of the Space Shuttle Atlantis mission fell ill, the Guardian points out.
The US space agency on Monday attributed the cause of the referral to a "minor medical problem". NASA has specified that "it is not a medical emergency and is not related to Covid-19". However, the agency refused to elaborate on the nature of the problem or to say which astronaut was involved.
This is the second postponement in the roadmap for the launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX, the aerospace company of Elon Musk.
The four astronauts were originally supposed to take off on Sunday but then the agency postponed the launch to this Wednesday due to unfavorable weather conditions. Now NASA has rescheduled it for Saturday 6 November.
The launch will mark SpaceX's fourth launch of NASA astronauts.
Saturday's takeoff, if successful, would count as SpaceX's fifth human space flight to date, following the inaugural launch in September of a space tourism service that sent the first civilian-only crew into orbit.
All the details.
DELAY FOR SPACEX LAUNCH WITH NASA
NASA has announced a delay for health reasons in the launch of the SpaceX spacecraft by four astronauts to the international space station.
This is the second postponement of the mission in a week, after the first due to adverse weather conditions. This time it is an unspecified medical problem with one of the crew members.
For the time being, the four astronauts will remain in routine quarantine at Cape Canaveral as preparations for the launch continue, NASA said.
IT HAS NOT HAPPENED SINCE 1990
The last time NASA delayed a scheduled launch due to a medical problem involving the crew was on a Space Shuttle Atlantis flight in 1990, when mission commander John Creighton fell ill. The countdown was interrupted for three days until he was allowed to fly, according to NASA.
That delay was followed by two further time-related postponements.
THE NEW PROGRAMMING
According to the new roadmap, the SpaceX-built spacecraft, consisting of a Crew Dragon spacecraft perched on a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket, is now ready for takeoff at 23:36 on Saturday (03:36 GMT on Sunday) from NASA's Kennedy Space to Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Hopefully, the three US astronauts and their European Space Agency (ESA) crew mate will arrive 22 hours later and dock at the space station 400km above Earth to begin a six-month science mission.
NASA'S PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP WITH SPACEX
Finally, Saturday's takeoff, if successful, would count as SpaceX's fifth human space flight to date, following the inaugural launch in September of a space tourism service that sent its first civilian-only crew into orbit.
Not only. The mission would mark the fourth crew transport that NASA has made to the ISS with SpaceX in 17 months, based on a public-private partnership with Musk's aerospace company.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/perche-la-nasa-ha-rinviato-il-volo-di-spacex/ on Tue, 02 Nov 2021 09:57:43 +0000.