This past weekend NASA announced a delay in the SpaceX Crew-1 Launch that had been previously scheduled for October 31st from Kennedy Space Center.
The delay follows an announcement that extra testing needs to be done by the company to evaluate “off-nominal behavior of Falcon 9 first stage engine gas generators observed during a recent non-NASA mission launch attempt.”
During the press release, associate administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate Kathy Lueders stated, “We have a strong working relationship with our SpaceX partner. With the high cadence of missions SpaceX performs, it really gives us incredible insight into this commercial system and helps us make informed decisions about the status of our missions. The teams are actively working this finding on the engines, and we should be a lot smarter within the coming week.”
NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission specialist Soichi Noguchi comprise the SpaceX Crew-1 mission which will be the first crewed flight on the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Earlier this year we saw the Crew Dragon test mission which tested out the spacecraft, spacesuits, and overall operation of returning to US-Based space launches.
Of the upcoming Crew-1 mission NASA has stated:
“The Crew-1 mission is a major step for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Operational, long duration commercial crew rotation missions will enable NASA to continue the important research and technology investigations taking place onboard the station. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future exploration of the Moon and Mars starting with the agency’s Artemis program, which will land the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface in 2024.”
Enjoy this article? Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram for more fun content. You can follow Sam on Twitter.
