National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Friday said the launch of the SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Dragon spacecraft has been rescheduled to August 26. According to officials, the launch has been postponed to give the mission managers an extra 24 hours to close out lingering issues, reported AFP.
The launch initially planned for August 25, has been postponed several times before.
“The #Crew7 launch to the @Space_Station has been postponed, now targeting Aug. 26 at 3:27 am ET (0727 UTC),” NASA wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
All you need to know about the mission:
- NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov will liftoff aboard SpaceX’s crew ‘Dragon Endurance spacecraft’. The spacecraft has earlier flown the Crew-3 and Crew-5 missions.
- The astronauts are expected to spend six months at the ISS, replacing four astronauts who have been there for half a year.
- As the name suggests, the Crew-7 will be SpaceX’s seventh operational mission to the space station for NASA. However, it will be the 11th human spaceflight overall for Elon Musk’s company.
- The NASA will be launching the mission now on August 26 from its Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
- The space agency will be live-telecasting the launch on its official website (nasa.gov) and its YouTube channel (NASA). It also shares live updates and coverage on social media platforms including Twitter (@NASA) and Facebook (NASA).
The NASA is also planning several lunar exploration programmes in the next couple of years including Peregrine Mission 1 – NASA CLPS Lunar Lander, IM-1 – NASA CLPS Lunar Lander, Lunar Trailblazer – NASA Lunar Orbiting Small Satellite, Griffin Mission 1 – VIPER – NASA Lunar South Pole Rover, among others.
(With inputs from agencies)