{"id":11732,"date":"2021-04-22T01:02:41","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T17:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-crew-dragon-launch-to-space-station-delayed-to-friday-by-offshore-weather\/"},"modified":"2021-04-22T01:02:41","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T17:02:41","slug":"spacex-crew-dragon-launch-to-space-station-delayed-to-friday-by-offshore-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-crew-dragon-launch-to-space-station-delayed-to-friday-by-offshore-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX Crew Dragon launch to space station delayed to Friday by offshore weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION<\/p>\n

\"\"
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 39A with the Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. Credit: NASA\/Joel Kowsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station has been delayed 24 hours to Friday because of bad weather in the Atlantic Ocean where the crew could be forced to ditch in an emergency, NASA announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Originally scheduled for liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center at 6:11 a.m. EDT Thursday, the flight was reset for 5:49 a.m. Friday, roughly the moment Earth\u2019s rotation carries pad 39A directly under the space station\u2019s orbital path \u2014 a requirement for spacecraft trying to rendezvous with a target in low-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to delay a day, we\u2019re not going to be able to launch tomorrow morning,\u201d spaceport Director Bob Cabana told reporters. \u201cAlthough the weather\u2019s probably going to look great here at the launch site, we\u2019re worried about those downrange winds and wave heights in case of an abort should that happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as this front gets through, it\u2019s going to be absolutely beautiful Friday morning, we\u2019re going to come out and do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

If all goes well Friday, commander Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japanese flier Akihiko Hoshide will catch up with the space station Saturday, moving in for an automated docking around 5:10 a.m. to kick off a planned six-month stay.<\/p>\n

Unlike the space shuttle, which could glide to runways in the United States, Spain or Africa in the event of an in-flight abort, the parachute-equipped Crew Dragon is designed to safely splash down in the ocean if its automated escape system is triggered, propelling the craft away from a malfunctioning booster.<\/p>\n

Relatively calm seas and winds are required for a safe splashdown and for successful recovery of the Falcon 9\u2019s first stage on a barge-like droneship.<\/p>\n

While the odds of an in-flight abort are remote, flight rules require acceptable off-shore conditions before a Crew Dragon is cleared for launch. Better weather, both on shore and off, is expected Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about launch (weather) when we\u2019re launching crew,\u201d Benji Reed, director of human spaceflight for SpaceX, said during a pre-flight briefing Tuesday. \u201cWe have to worry about the entire ascent trajectory, because if something goes wrong, we want Dragon to be able to escape off of the rocket. And that means they have to be able to come down in the ocean at all points along that potential escape.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at winds and wave height and lightning, all kinds of things to make sure it\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kimbrough and his three crewmates are replacing the crew of another Dragon capsule \u2014 Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi \u2014 who were launched to the station last November in the commercial crew program\u2019s first operational flight.<\/p>\n

Despite the launch delay for their replacements, Hopkins and company still plan to return to Earth next Wednesday as previously planned, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico at 12:40 p.m. to close out a 164-day mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 39A with the Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. Credit: NASA\/Joel Kowsky Launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station has been delayed 24 hours to Friday because of bad weather in the Atlantic Ocean […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1764,1284,524,291,235,850,1718,1395],"class_list":["post-11732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-akihiko-hoshide","tag-b1061","tag-commercial-crew","tag-commercial-space","tag-crew-dragon","tag-crew-dragon-endeavour","tag-crew-2","tag-dragon"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11732"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}