Kennedy Space centre: A four-person crew's launch to the International Space Station has been postponed, according to NASA and SpaceX on Thursday. Without giving an explanation, NASA stated that the mission was "standing down" from its planned Friday launch time.
Launch now is scheduled for Saturday, August 26, at 3:27 a.m. (local time; 07:27 GMT) for SpaceX's seventh crew rotation mission to the microgravity laboratory for NASA, according to a statement from the US space agency.
The mission, known as Crew-7, will be piloted by American Jasmin Moghbeli and feature Russian Konstantin Borisov, Andreas Mogensen of Denmark, and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan.
The NASA Kennedy Space Centre in Florida will serve as the launch site for the mission, with a backup window of opportunity at 3:04 am (07:04 GMT) on Sunday.
The revised launch date, according to SpaceX, gave "teams additional time to complete and discuss analysis."
The crew is prepared to fly, and the vehicles are in good condition. Both Moghbeli and Borisov will be taking part in their first space mission. During a press conference last month, test pilot for the Navy Moghbeli stated, "This is something I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember."
The 40-year-old with Iranian ancestry continued, "Looking back at our beautiful planet is one of the things I'm most excited about."
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"Everyone I've spoken to who has already flown has said that was a perspective that changed their lives; in addition, floating around in space seems like a lot of fun."
The first routine mission for Elon Musk's SpaceX to the orbital platform is scheduled to launch in 2020, and Crew-7 will be the seventh.
After the Space Shuttle programme ended in 2011, NASA implemented a commercial crew programme to lessen reliance on Russian rockets for astronaut transportation. As part of this programme, NASA pays SpaceX for the taxi service.
The other private partner with a contract is Boeing, but the company has not yet flown any crew and its programme is still plagued by delays and technical issues.
Borisov will be the third Russian to take to the skies in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft mounted atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
Despite the invasion of Ukraine, the US and Russia continue to cooperate in a unique area: space. Americans continue to fly on Russian Soyuz rockets that take off from Kazakhstan.
The crew will spend six months on board the ISS conducting scientific research, including gathering samples during a spacewalk to ascertain whether the station emits microorganisms through life support system vents.
It is important to know whether microorganisms can live and reproduce in space. Examining the physiological variations between sleep on Earth and sleep in space will be the focus of another experiment.
I look forward to handling all the tasks. This is a very interesting line of work because you're getting ready for something new and you want to do it right', said Borisov.
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Before members of Crew-6 return to Earth a few days later, Crew-7 will join the seven other occupants of the ISS. The ISS's initial component was launched in 1998, and an international crew has continuously called it home since that year.
It will continue to operate until at least 2030, at which point it will be decommissioned and slam into the water. A number of private businesses are developing commercial space stations to take its place.
