NASA DELAYS the return of SpaceX's Crew-1 astronauts until Saturday

Posted on : 04/27/2021
NASA DELAYS the return of SpaceX's Crew-1 astronauts until Saturday
Science 

NASA DELAYS the return of SpaceX’s Crew-1 astronauts until Saturday because of bad weather in splashdown zone off the coast of Florida

  • NASA is delaying the return trip of Crew-2 from the International Space Station
  • The announcement came Tuesday, as poor weather is predicted near Florida
  • Undocking is scheduled for April 30 and splashdown is set for May 1 
  • Crew-2 launched to the space station on November 15, 2020 

The International Space Station will be crowded a little longer after NASA and SpaceX announced a delayed return for the Crew-1 mission.

Astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi were set undock from the orbiting laboratory April 28, but poor weather has pushed it to April 30.

This means the Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Resilience, will splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida Saturday, May 1.

There are currently 11 astronauts living on the ISS, which typically hosts six at a time, but the US portion has only four beds and there are currently nine people within this part of the station.

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Astronauts (left to right) Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins and Soichi Noguchi were set undock from the orbiting laboratory April 28, but poor weather has pushed it to April 30 and splashdown is now scheduled for May 1

Crew-2 mission brought the latest batch of astronauts to the ISS Sunday, which overlapped Crew-1 that was set to head home to Earth a few days later.

However, NASA released an official statement Tuesday announcing a delay due to poor weather conductions in the splashdown zones off the coast of Florida, which currently predict wind speeds above the recovery criteria.

Resilience is scheduled to undock from the ISS at 5:55pm ET Friday, April 30 and splashdown at 11:36am ET Saturday, May 1.

The returning astronauts, Crew-1, launched to the ISS on November 15, 2020, which was the first to follow the historic Demo-2 mission in May 2020.

There are currently 11 astronauts living on the ISS, which typically hosts six at a time, but the US portion has only four beds and there are currently nine people within this part of the station

Making it only the second time that SpaceX, which is owned by Elon Musk, sent people into orbit in its Dragon capsule via its Falcon rocket.

The crew led by Hopkins, an Air Force colonel, includes physicist Walker and Navy Cmdr. and rookie astronaut Glover, who is the first black astronaut to spend an extended amount of time on the space station. 

Noguchi also became only the third person to rocket into orbit aboard three different kinds of spacecraft. 

The team of four named their capsule Resilience given all the challenges in 2020, most notably the global pandemic. 

The returning astronauts, Crew-1, launched to the ISS on November 15, 2020 (pictured) and the team of four named their capsule Resilience given all the challenges in 2020, most notably the global pandemic.

The crew led by Hopkins (front right), an Air Force colonel, includes physicist Walker (back left) and rookie astronaut Glover (front left), who is the first black astronaut to spend an extended amount of time on the space station. Noguchi (front right) also became only the third person to rocket into orbit aboard three different kinds of spacecraft.

But it seems 2021 has brought a little bad luck with poor weather on their set return date, which means the crew will have to find creative places to sleep. 

The ISS has hosted as many as 13 people, but the feat seems to be challenging each time the ship becomes crowded and astronauts have been sleeping in temporary beds.

NASA’s Mike Hopkins and Shane Kimbrough — commanders of Crew-1 and Crew-2, — have been sleeping in their docked Crew Dragon capsules.

Three crew members have made ‘Crew Alternative Sleep Accommodations,’ which is dubbed CASA that also means ‘house’ in Spanish.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Soichi Noguchi and fellow Crew-1 astronauts Shannon Walker and Victor Glover, both of NASA, are among those in CASA beds.

Noguchi is getting shut eye in the astronaut gym, Walker is in the Columbus module and Glover sleeps in the airlock.

The newest occupants are g NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.

Two of the Crew-2 members are sleeping in the docked capsule, dubbed Endeavor and the other two ‘can pick wherever they want to call home,’ NPR reports. 

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