Four Dragon Crew-4 astronauts must remain on the space station.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID,FLORIDA – The SpaceX crew had to wait a little longer to get home. The United States Air and Space Administration (NASA) has planned the release of the Dragon Crew-4 capsule, dubbed Freedom, on Thursday (10/13/2022) for the return of astronauts living on the International Space Station (ISS).
But just before the capsule took off this morning, NASA again postponed the procedure, along with the Dragon’s planned landing in the Atlantic Ocean within reach of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, due to weather problems. Currently, NASA is aiming for Friday (10/14/2022) at 11:35 EDT (1535 GMT) for release, after ignoring opportunities on Wednesday (12/10/2022) and Thursday (October 13) due to the weather, NASA Television officials said Thursday (10/13/2022).
Reported by Space, Thursday (13/10/2022), four astronaut Crew-4 will remain on the space station until the next release opportunity. They will spend a few more hours in the orbiting laboratory together with the seven newcomers who will spend several months inside the facility.
NASA evaluates landing site conditions such as wave height, wind and other factors to ensure splashes occur safely, the agency said.
Crew-4 was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on April 27 and arrived at the ISS the same day. The mission consisted of astronauts from the European Space Agency Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA astronaut Robert Hines, Kjell Lindgren and Jessica Watkins.
Crew-4 is the fourth contract astronaut mission to be transported by SpaceX to NASA’s orbital complex. This is one of two SpaceX astronaut flights currently on the ISS; Crew-5 arrived on 6 October for a five-month stay.
