Sept. 1 (UPI) — The scheduled departure of Crew 6 astronauts from the International Space Station on Saturday has been delayed because of severe weather off the coast of Florida.
NASA says the Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, is in good condition and remains docked at the space station.
With a splashdown off the coast of Florida, Endeavour will bring back to earth the multinational Crew 6 team, which includes U.S. astronauts Woody Hoburg and Stephen Bowen, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
Bowen, Hoburg, Alneyadi and Fedyaev participated in spacewalks to upgrade the station while on the Crew 6 mission, which was launched on March 2 and docked with the ISS on March 3.
In June, Bowen completed his tenth spacewalk, which ties the record of NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson, Chris Cassidy, Michael Lopez-Alegria and Bob Behnken, each of whom have performed 10 spacewalks.
NASA officials said they are meeting Friday to discuss the feasibility of alternative re-entry windows. On Friday, weather forecasters were tracking at least five tropical weather systems in the Atlantic.
The earliest available alternative window for re-entry starts at 7:05 a.m. EDT Sunday, with NASA planning to provide live coverage if Sunday’s re-entry window is approved.
Here are the sequence of events that could transpire Sunday if the astronauts get approval to return then: A Sunday re-entry would be initiated by hatch closure at 5 a.m.. At 6:45 a.m. NASA’s coverage of the re-entry would begin and switch to audio format shortly afterward. At 7:05 a.m., undocking would commence, and the Endeavour will enter an ellipsoid orbit, which allows the spacecraft to assume the correct trajectory for reentry.
Under this timeline, NASA would resume video coverage at 11 p.m. as Endeavour begins its deorbit burn at 11:15 p.m. and enters to atmosphere. Splashdown off the coast of Florida would be expected at 12:07 a.m. Monday.
