Cape Canaveral,
FLA. : SpaceX on Wednesday counted down the night-time launch of four astronauts who were halted for nearly two weeks due to weather and medical delays.
The Falcon rocket was set to blast off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center a few hours after sunset. It will put one German and three American astronauts on the International Space Station for a six-month stay until Thursday night.
The rain was so strong that SpaceX employees waved goodbye to their families and placed umbrellas over the astronauts. Their wet helmets were wiped off before strapping them to their seats. Forecasters promised the weather would improve.
NASA is not saying who was sidelined by an undisclosed medical issue last week – one of the astronauts. According to NASA, the crew member has fully recovered. Officials would not say whether it was illness or injury, but noted that it was not COVID-19.
The launch attempt comes two days after SpaceX brought four station astronauts back to Earth. They should have been there to welcome newcomers to the station, but NASA and SpaceX decided to change orders based on Monday’s ideal recovery weather in the Gulf of Mexico.
The data was perused by SpaceX engineers in a balky parachute during the descent, before proceeding for Wednesday’s launch attempt. SpaceX officials said Tuesday that one of the four chutes opened late by more than a minute, after testing and within safety limits noticed a problem.
Other equipment issues involved toilets. SpaceX redesigned the flushing system in September after a major leak occurred on a private flight. The capsule returning on Monday had the same problem so the crew had to rely on diapers during the eight-hour ride.
One good news: The space station was no longer on a potential collision course with space junk. Late Tuesday, NASA said the station would have to dodge a piece of an old Chinese satellite that was destroyed years ago in a missile-firing test. But as of Wednesday, the debris no longer posed any danger. Mission Control erected the station anyway to accommodate incoming Russian vehicles in the coming month.
SpaceX has now carried out three crewed launches for NASA in the past 1 1/2 years. The September flight was chartered by a billionaire for himself and three others.
The latest crew: Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron of NASA, and Mathias Maurer of the European Space Agency, who was set to become the 600th person in space.
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