A Spooky Storm Delays Crew-3

SpaceX and NASA have delayed the launch of the Crew-3 mission due to bad weather along their flight path. Originally, the launch was scheduled for the early morning of October 31 from launchpad 39A at KSC in Florida. However, NASA announced that there would be a 72-hour delay due to poor weather along the flight path, which schedules the new launch date for November 3rd at 1:10 AM EDT.

Falcon 9 Rocket on LC39A at KSC

The storm at the question is a large storm system that is going through the Ohio Valley and the northeastern United States. It caused elevated wind speeds, canceling the October 31st launch attempt. NASA’s forecasters predicted that there is a 90% chance they will have favorable conditions on November 3rd. 

Crew-3 will carry three NASA astronauts and one ESA astronaut. The mission will be commanded by NASA’s Raja Chari. Additionally, NASA’s Tom Mashburn will serve as the pilot and NASA’s Kayla Barron will serve as the mission specialists. It is Chari’s and Barron’s first flight. The final astronaut, ESA’s Matthias Maurer, will be the 600th person in space. It is his first flight as well. 

Crew-3 will also be the 129th launch of the Falcon 9 rocket this year and the 93rd recovery of the first-stage booster. SpaceX’s drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” will be in the Atlantic Ocean during launch to recover the first-stage booster. The specific rocket that will be used during launch has already visited space. In June, it launched a different Dragon spacecraft as a part of a resupply mission to the ISS.

Crew-3 Astronauts
(From Left to Right): Matthias Maurer, Tom Mashburn, Raja Chari, Kayla Barron

Sources:

Thompson, Amy. “SpaceX, NASA Delay Launch of Crew-3 Astronauts to Space Station Due to Weather.” Space.com, Space, 30 Oct. 2021, https://www.space.com/spacex-nasa-crew-3-astronaut-launch-delay.