SpaceX
NASA and SpaceX postpone astronaut rescue mission due to storm
NASA, the American space agency, and SpaceX, rocket manufacturer owned by tycoon Elon Musk, postponed until Saturday, the 28th, the launch of the Crew-9 mission due to a tropical storm that will hit Cape Canaveral, in Florida (USA) , the place from where the spacecraft would take off.
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According to the “Space” website, one of the objectives of the project is to reach the ISS (International Space Station – in translation) to bring back astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The duo has been in space since June 5th, when they participated in a test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.
In a statement released this Tuesday, 24, NASA reported that storm “Helene” could impact Florida with heavy rain and winds, which would affect the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket. According to the space agency, the mission will not take place before the afternoon of September 28th.
NASA highlighted that, until the day of takeoff, the teams that make up the mission will rehearse launching the rocket. Crew-9 will send astronauts Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov to the ISS, where they will spend a few months, and bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore when they return, only in 2025.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were the first to participate in a test launch of Boeing's Starliner on June 5. The spacecraft departed from Florida, in the United States.
Initially, the duo's mission was supposed to last a maximum of a week, but months later, the two are still on the ISS.
According to NASA, five of the spacecraft's 28 capsule thrusters failed during docking with the ISS. Subsequently, the equipment was restarted and only one did not work again. The American space agency's suspicions are that the heat of the procedure caused the shutdown. Furthermore, according to Boeing, a helium leak was identified in the spacecraft.
The test mission is Boeing's last step before receiving a certificate from NASA that allows it to carry out routine flights with astronauts, alongside Elon Musk's SpaceX.