SpaceX’s Crew-3 mission launch would be postponed, again

(CNN Spanish) – After postponing the launch of the Crew-3 mission for the third time, SpaceX and NASA are considering returning the crew of the Crew-2 mission to Earth prior to the launch of the next mission “due to associated climate considerations for operations. launch and recovery “, NASA said Thursday.

“Mission teams will make a final decision on whether to prioritize the launch of Crew-3 or the return of Crew-2 in the coming days based on the likelihood of favorable conditions for a Crew Dragon landing or Crew Dragon launch. “NASA said in a press release.

Initially SpaceX planned to launch the third manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 31, but due to weather conditions and “a minor medical problem” the future of the fifth space flight mission SpaceX is uncertain.

According to NASA, the earliest possible date for the undocking of Crew-2 from the ISS would be Sunday, November 7 at 1:05 pm (Miami time) to begin their return to Earth. A second possible date would be Monday, November 8.

For its part, the new possible date for the launch of the Crew-3 mission would be Monday, November 8 at 9:51 pm (Miami time), as long as NASA decides to postpone the return home of the Crew- 2. NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer will blast off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Crew-3 mission will transport more than 180 kilograms of supplies and hardware, including more than 68 kg that will be used for experiments, and its crew will spend six months aboard the ISS conducting scientific research.

Specifically, the Crew-3 astronauts plan to test fiber optic printing, a handheld bioprinter, concrete hardening, and collaborate on some of the more than 200 investigations available on the ISS.

Among the research aboard the ISS is growing red and green chili peppers in space, which is “one of the longest and most challenging plant experiments ever attempted aboard the orbital laboratory.” according to NASA.

In fact, Crew-2 astronauts – Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Thomas Pesquet and Akihiko Hoshide – achieved the first harvest of chili peppers seeded in space and celebrated by eating some tacos, although they first had to fill out a series of documents with scientific purposes.

“I think we were a little excited to go ahead and try them, so we didn’t take the time to grill them,” McArthur told reporters at an online event held on Friday by NASA. “We all tried both red and green and they have a nice spicy taste, a bit of a lingering itch, some found it more troublesome than others, but we all enjoyed it,” he added.