Space X International Space Station – Mission Delayed

The launch of the Elons Musk’s SpaceX rocket to take NASA crew to the International Space Station has been delayed further

Space travel entrepreneur Elon Musk was initially scheduled to carry out its mission alongside NASA in late March from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA had announced that the March target was postponed to April 20. It has been delayed again to April 22 at the earliest.

The reason for the delay was due to the availability of the times to the space station, NASA spokesperson Dan Huot said “this is driven by orbital mechanics that would keep the astronauts’ need for sleep shifting to a minimum”.

The mission is the 2nd flight using a “Private” spacecraft the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the added Crew Dragon capsule it will carry into orbit.

The SpaceX Crew are made of 4 and  consists of two NASA astronauts, mission commander Shane Kimbrough, female pilot Megan McArthur. They are crewed with astronaut Akihiko Hoshide from Japan and Space expert Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency.

The arriving Crew are to remain in orbit for six months, while the off signing crew expected return to earth will be sometime in may, They have been on the ISS since November 2020.

McArthur is no newbie to space exploration with spouse Robert L Behnken an established astronaut in his own right having complete his own mission on a Crew Dragon in a trial flight in August 2020.