SpaceX
NASA and SpaceX’s four Crew-8 astronauts will be staying in their temporary home on the International Space Station (ISS) for a little while longer, as their departure has been delayed due to inclement weather. The return of the four crew members to Earth has already been pushed back once and was slated to go ahead today, Sunday, October 13, but the was called off this morning due to adverse weather conditions at the splashdown zone off the coast of Florida.
The four crew members — NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin — make up the Crew-8 mission and will return to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon. But with the hurricanes and extreme weather conditions affecting Florida recently, NASA officials chose to let the crew members remain in orbit rather than have them try to splash down in potentially difficult conditions.
“Due to unfavorable weather conditions off the coast of Florida, Dragon is standing down from today’s undocking from the Space Station. Teams will continue to monitor weather conditions for the next available undocking opportunity,” SpaceX wrote on X.
It is not yet known when the crew will be able to return to Earth, as no new departure date has been set. NASA has said it will give a weather briefing tomorrow morning with more information, so a date may be available then. It is not unusual for launches to and splashdowns from the ISS to be delayed due to weather, as any operation involving humans in space is treated with extra care. With 11 people currently on the ISS, the space station is busy, but not overcrowded, so the Crew-8 members can safely stay there until the weather clears.
Since Hurricane Milton hit Florida this week, several NASA operations have been affected. Many NASA missions launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including the Europa Clipper mission. This uncrewed mission is set to explore Jupiter’s icy moon, but its launch was delayed this week as well. Now, that launch is scheduled to go ahead tomorrow, Monday, October 14.
This weekend has been a busy time for SpaceX as well, as it performed its fifth test flight of its Starship rocket including a historic first as it caught a returning Super Heavy booster.
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
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“The change allows teams to complete a rehearsal of launch day activities Tuesday night with the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket, which rolled to Space Launch Complex-40 earlier in the day. Following rehearsal activities, the integrated system will move back to the hangar ahead of any potential storm activity,” NASA wrote in an update. “Although Tropical Storm Helene is moving through the Gulf of Mexico and expected to impact the Florida panhandle, the storm system is large enough that high winds and heavy rain are expected in the Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island regions on Florida’s east coast.”
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