The NASA SpaceX Crew-3 mission launch time and date have been delayed, but not for long. Also, people can still watch its live takeoff online.
New NASA SpaceX Crew-3 Mission Launch Time and Date
In the blog post by NASA, the space agency stated that they are moving the launch date and time from the previous announcement. The new time and date will be on Wednesday, November 3, at 1:10 a.m. Eastern Time.
NEW LIFTOFF DATE: NASA's @SpaceX Crew-3 mission is now targeting 1:10am ET (05:10 UTC) on Wed., Nov. 3, for its next launch attempt due to weather along the flight path.
— NASA (@NASA) October 30, 2021
Watch NASA TV coverage starting Nov. 2 at 8:45pm ET (00:45 UTC Nov. 3): https://t.co/KXTmDNSZWm pic.twitter.com/BB3HkTizZo
The agency explained that the postponement was due to the unfavorable weather condition on NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Apparently, there's a large storm system wandering throughout the Ohio Valley as well as across the northeastern part of the U.S. during the launch attempt of the Crew Dragon flight on October 31.
Luckily, NASA clarified that there will no longer be another delay since the weather conditions are expected to improve on the new launch date. Aside from the weather expectations, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast seesan 80 percent chance of favorable weather conditions at the launch site.
Who Are the SpaceX Crew-3 Astronauts?
The New York Times shared some background information of the four astronauts who will be flying to the ISS this November and will stay until late April 2022.
- Matthias Maurer: He is the mission specialist of Crew-3. Maurer is a German astronaut who is a representative of the European Space Agency. In 2015, the 51-year-old also joined the European astronaut corps.
- Kayla Barron: Barron was part of the first group of women to serve on a Navy submarine. The 34-year-old astronaut also entered NASA's astronaut corps in 2017. Both Barron and Raji Chari are members of the Artemis astronaut corps of NASA. This only means that they are eligible to travel to the moon in the future.
- Raja Chari: He is the mission commander of Crew-3, and the fifth Indian astronaut to go to space. The 44-year-old astronaut was a test pilot and an Air Force colonel who had combat missions in Iraq. Same with Barron, he also joined the astronaut corps in 2017.
- Tom Marshburn: He has flown on two space vehicles in the past such as on Russia's Soyuz Spacecraft in 2013 as well as on Space Shuttle Endeavour of NASA in 2009.
For background information, Crew-1 was launched in November 2020, while Crew-2 lifted off on April 23, 2021, per Engadget.
How to Watch NASA SpaceX Crew-3 Mission Launch?
According to Engadget, the live coverage of the mission launch of NASA SpaceX Crew-3 will be aired on NASA's YouTube channel.
Aside from NASA's YouTube channel, viewers can also tune in to Kennedy Space Center YouTube channel.
Hopefully, though, the weather forecasts are correct and there will no longer be any delay in the launch of the SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station.
