Like airports during bad weather, space flight from the Cape is similar. Crew-4’s SpaceX Falcon 9 will now launch early Tuesday morning at 4:15 a.m. The Ax-1 Crew Dragon capsule will undock from the International Space Station on Saturday night and then land Sunday in front of the Florida coast. This comes after several delays due to bad weather at the splashdown areas. Early Thursday morning, there were three rockets on the launch pads at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Crew 4’s Falcon 9, on Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, is ready to carry the next rotation of astronauts to the International Space Station. At Launch Pad 40 on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, another Falcon 9 launched in the afternoon to put another round of Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. Still standing on 39B, NASA’s Artemis Lunar Rocket Space Launch System will roll off the pad next week after several weeks of testing. The International Space Station is currently busy with six capsules docked to the orbiting laboratory. One of them is the Dragon capsule with the Ax-1 crew. Its undocking has caused the delay in the launch of Crew-4. “There are a limited number of docking locations on the Space Station. And just like the airport analogy, there are only so many doors you can get to.” , and you have to leave that door before the next one can get in there,” Don Platt, professor of space systems at Florida Tech, wrote in a statement. It’s vital that engineers and ground crews have time between splashdown and the launch. . “These are very difficult operations. They are very safety critical, so people really have to be on top of their game,” Platt said in a statement. NASA and SpaceX are confident that the Sunday afternoon to Tuesday morning window will be enough time to put them at the top of their game.
Like airports during bad weather, space flight from the Cape is similar.
Crew-4’s SpaceX Falcon 9 will now launch early Tuesday morning at 4:15 a.m.
The Ax-1 Crew Dragon capsule will undock from the International Space Station on Saturday night and then land Sunday off the coast of Florida.
This comes after several delays due to bad weather at the splashdown areas.
Early Thursday morning, there were three rockets on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launch pads.
Crew 4’s Falcon 9, on Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, is ready to carry the next rotation of astronauts to the International Space Station.
At Launch Pad 40 on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, another Falcon 9 launched in the afternoon to put another round of Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.
Still standing on 39B, NASA’s Artemis Lunar Rocket Space Launch System will roll off the pad next week after several weeks of testing.
The International Space Station is currently busy with six capsules docked to the orbiting laboratory.
One of them is the Dragon capsule with the Ax-1 crew.
Their undocking has caused the Crew-4 launch to be delayed.
“There are a limited number of docking locations on the Space Station. And just like the airport analogy, there are only so many doors you can get to, and one has to leave that door before the next one can get in there.” Don Platt, professor of space systems at Florida Tech, wrote in a statement.
It is vital that engineers and ground personnel have time between splashdown and launch.
“These are very difficult operations. They are very safety critical, so people really have to be on top of their game,” Platt said in a statement.
NASA and SpaceX are confident that the Sunday afternoon to Tuesday morning window will be enough time to put them at the top of their game.
