Sept. 1 (UPI) — The departure of the Crew 6 astronauts from the International Space Station, which was scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed due to inclement weather near Florida’s coast.
NASA confirms that the Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, is in good condition and remains docked to the space station.
Endeavour will bring back the multinational Crew 6 team, consisting of U.S. astronauts Woody Hoburg and Stephen Bowen, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, with a splashdown off the coast of Florida.
Bowen, Hoburg, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev conducted spacewalks to upgrade the station during their Crew 6 mission, which commenced on March 2 and docked with the ISS on March 3.
In June, Bowen achieved the milestone of completing his tenth spacewalk, joining the ranks of NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson, Chris Cassidy, Michael Lopez-Alegria, and Bob Behnken.
NASA officials are currently discussing alternative re-entry windows in light of the unfavorable weather conditions. Multiple tropical weather systems in the Atlantic are being monitored by weather forecasters.
The earliest available alternative window for re-entry is scheduled for 7:05 a.m. EDT on Sunday. If approved, NASA will provide live coverage of Sunday’s re-entry.
Here is the sequence of events that may unfold on Sunday if the astronauts receive approval for their return: Hatch closure will occur at 5 a.m., followed by NASA’s coverage of the re-entry starting at 6:45 a.m. in audio format. Undocking will commence at 7:05 a.m., and the Endeavour will enter an ellipsoid orbit to ensure the correct trajectory for re-entry.
Under this timeline, NASA will resume video coverage at 11 p.m. as Endeavour begins its deorbit burn at 11:15 p.m. The spacecraft is expected to splashdown off the coast of Florida at 12:07 a.m. on Monday.
