Four private astronaut visitors to the International Space Station will get another 12-hours in space after weather conditions off the coast of Florida were unfavorable for a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to splashdown.
SpaceX launched the four private space explorers in the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center on April 8. The flight was the first mission for Axiom Space’s private space program in which people pay around $55 million each to fly to the ISS.
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NASA astronaut and Axiom Space Vice President Michael López-Alegría led the spaceflight as the Ax-1 commander with Axiom customers Larry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe.
Previously, the Axiom-1 mission was set to undock in the Dragon spacecraft around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Now SpaceX is targeting around 10 p.m. for the undocking with splashdown at 3:24 p.m. ET Wednesday.
NASA said mission control had informed the private crew that their departure from the space station would wait another 12 hours.
The private mission’s return depends on Florida’s west or east coast weather conditions. Forecasters will be looking for calm seas, low wind and no lightning for a safe spacecraft recovery.
This year, the International Space Station will be busy with government and private astronauts.
In the next six months, Axiom Space is working with SpaceX and NASA on another private mission to the ISS.
On Monday, the next four astronauts scheduled to launch on April 23 on a long-duration mission arrived at Kennedy Space Center.
Source: Fox Weather
