SpaceX and NASA jointly postponed a highly anticipated mission that aimed to launch four astronauts, each representing a different nation and space agency, to the International Space Station. The sudden delay was announced late on Thursday evening, leaving the specific cause unclear. The crew’s SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft was originally scheduled to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:50 a.m. ET on Friday.
In a statement shared on social media, SpaceX explained that the liftoff had been rescheduled for Saturday, August 26, at 3:27 a.m. The decision was made to allow the teams extra time for analysis and discussions, ensuring thorough preparations. SpaceX affirmed that both the spacecraft and the crew were in optimal condition for the mission.
During a live stream, NASA spokesperson Rob Navias disclosed that mission managers had opted to postpone the launch of Crew-7 for 24 hours to address some pending paperwork, ensuring a smooth launch process.
As per the latest forecasts provided by the US Space Force, which supervises rocket launches, there is a 95% probability of favorable weather conditions for the rescheduled liftoff on Saturday.
Crew-7, the mission designation, consists of four astronauts: NASA’s Jasmin Moghbeli as mission commander, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen representing the European Space Agency, Satoshi Furukawa from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos.
Upon reaching the space station, Moghbeli, Mogensen, Furukawa, and Borisov will join the seven astronauts already stationed on the orbiting laboratory. The Crew-7 team will take over operations from the SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts, who have been residing on the space station since March.
This mission will mark the eighth collaboration between NASA and SpaceX as part of NASA’s commercial crew program, which has facilitated astronaut transportation to the space station since the inaugural crewed SpaceX mission in 2020.