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SpaceX Crew-3 Launch Delayed Until November 10th

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SpaceX Crew-3 Launch Delayed Until November 10th
Source: Fortune

NASA announced Sunday that the SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station has been rescheduled for November 10th at 9:03 p.m. ET. Although NASA had intended to have a changing of the guard with the Crew-2 astronauts welcoming the Crew-3 crew before Crew-2 departed, due to weather concerns, the space agency has chosen to return Crew 2 to Earth first, moving the mission from Sunday to Monday, November 8th at 2:05PM ET.

According to a tweet from SpaceX on Sunday, there is an 80% likelihood of good weather for liftoff on Wednesday. If all goes according to schedule, the ship will launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and dock with the ISS at 7:10 p.m. ET on November 11th.

The Crew-3 has been delayed many times since its planned launch date of October 31st, due to weather concerns and once due to a “small medical issue” with one of the crew members. NASA’s Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron, as well as Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency, will sail aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to begin a six-month tenure in orbit on the International Space Station.

SpaceX’s Crew-3 is the company’s third operational crewed trip as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which employs commercial aircraft to transport NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. It will be the sixth time Space X has flown humans into space on its Crew Dragon, after the launch of two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station in May 2020.

The launch will be broadcast live on NASA’s YouTube channel and on the agency’s website.