CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA and SpaceX’s Crew-3 launch is now scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 31.
The Commercial Crew Dragon launch is now set to take off at 2:21 a.m. from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
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NASA said the delay was to allow more time for “spacecraft processing.” The backup time for the launch is 1:10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 3.
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Crew-3 astronauts — which includes NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Mathias Maurer — are scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station early in the morning on Nov. 1, according to NASA.
Launch Update ➡️ @NASA and @SpaceX are now targeting 2:21am ET Sunday, Oct. 31, for the #Crew3 mission to the @Space_Station.
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) October 19, 2021
Crew-3 is scheduled to arrive at the orbiting laboratory early on the morning of Monday, Nov. 1: https://t.co/Nwy0q5Vh8Y pic.twitter.com/ixE2LibKJp
The launch was originally scheduled for the day before, Saturday, Oct. 30. at 2:43 a.m.
The Crew-3 astronauts are scheduled for a “long-duration science mission aboard the orbiting laboratory, living and working as part of what is expected to be a seven-member crew,” according to NASA.
They will have some overlap with the Crew-2 mission astronauts — NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet — who are set to return to Earth onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavor, splashing down in one of seven zones off the coast of Florida, NASA said.
The Crew-3 mission will be the fifth crewed launch for the Crew Dragon capsule, but only the fourth for NASA.