The world’s first fully private crew to the International Space Station must wait at least another day to leave the orbiting laboratory after bad weather prevented a planned landing on Saturday (April 23).
NASA, SpaceX and the company Axiom Spacewhich supports your Ax mission 1, has canceled plans to de-dock a SpaceX Dragon carrying its four-man crew due to unacceptable high winds at splash sites off the coast of Florida. Mission managers were Aiming to disengage Saturday evening before the delay.
“Concluding a weather briefing ahead of today’s planned landing, the NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX teams have chosen to cancel today’s docking attempt due to a lower wind basin that caused marginal high winds at the sprinkler sites,” according to NASA officials. Posted in Saturday update. “The crew of Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) is now targeting disengagement from International Space Station 8:55 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 24. “
Live updates: Ax-1 space station special mission
Related: See stunning photos of SpaceX’s Ax-1 astronauts’ special mission
SpaceX’s Ax-1 mission It was launched on April 8th To carry four commercial Axiom Space astronauts, three of whom are pushing passengers, on a short trip to the station. The crew includes Commander Michael Lopez Alegria, a former NASA astronaut. and pays passengers for Larry Connor, an American businessman; Mark Bathy, Canadian businessman; and Israeli investor and businessman Eitan Step.
Connor, Bathy and Stippy each pay $55 million per ride. During their flight, the Ax-1 astronauts conducted a series of experiments, Helped minting NFTs on the stationconducted educational outreach activities and enjoyed the experience of spaceflight.
The Ax-1 mission was initially expected to take about 10 days, eight of which were on the space station, but its duration was so Stretched after weather concerns The landing planned for Tuesday (April 19) was prevented. If the Ax-1 Dragon capsule manages to unravel late Sunday, it is expected to splash off the coast of Florida around 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) on Monday, April 25.
Ax-1 separation delays caused a bit of a traffic jam for the next professional NASA crew to visit the space station. SpaceX is scheduled to launch this new crew on the Crew-4 mission on Tuesday (April 26) from NASA’s Pad 39A Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Crew-4 astronaut launches on a different SpaceX Dragon spacecraft have been suspended since mid-April due to the Ax-1 mission (currently using the station’s Crew-4 mission docking port) and delays with NASA’s Artemis 1 Space Launch System resupply test that caused A ripple effect of Kennedy Space Center schedule changes for the Ax-1 and Crew-4 earlier in the month.
NASA and SpaceX also plan to return four more professional astronauts from the Crew-3 mission to the main space station after the Crew-4 launch on the third Dragon capsule.
If all goes well, NASA will broadcast docking operations for the Ax-1 crew on Sunday, beginning with the closed hatch between Dragon and the station at 6:30 p.m. EDT (2230 GMT). Undocking coverage will begin at 8:30 PM EST (0030 GMT). You can watch both activities liveCourtesy of NASA Television.
Axiom Space will provide a live online broadcast of the same SplashDown, starting at 12 noon EST (1600 GMT) on Monday.
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