Feb. 10 (UPI) — NASA and SpaceX on Tuesday moved their launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Station to the International Space Station from Thursday to no earlier than Friday due to weather conditions.
NASA announced Tuesday that the earliest launch window for the Crew-12 mission to the ISS will begin at 5:15 a.m. EST on Friday. The decision was made after completing a weather review on Tuesday morning.
Elevated winds in the crew’s flight path have been cited by SpaceX as the main concern with a Thursday launch.
The launch will be streamed on NASA+, Amazon Prime and NASA’s YouTube channel. Coverage begins at 3:15 a.m. on Friday.
If Crew-12 launches in its earliest window it is expected to arrive at the International Space Station at about 3:15 p.m. on Saturday.
Crew-12 will travel aboard a SpaceX Dragon, launching with a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway will be joined by European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The crew is in quarantine at the Kennedy Space Station awaiting the launch.
The crew is heading to the International Space Station to support its operations and conduct research. Three astronauts are at the station currently.
This mission will mark a first as Crew-12 becomes the first group of astronauts to be allowed to take smartphones into space.
“We are giving our crews the tools to capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and video with the world,” Jared Issacman, NASA administrator, said in a post on X.
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket emerges on Saturday morning from the Vehicle Assembly Building to start its journey to Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo