Already postponed to Tuesday due to bad weather, the launch of the Crew-4 space mission with Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti on board will be postponed for another day due to unfavorable weather conditions.
The launch of NASA’s Crew-4 space mission to the International Space Station from Lance Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida has again been postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions. This was announced by NASA, which announced the new launch date, postponed to Wednesday April 27 at 3:52 a.m. local time (9:52 a.m. Italian time) after the first postponement to April 26 and explained that “the teams have decided to waive the potential launch opportunity for April 26 until the weekend, when the positioning of the space station and orbital mechanics will be more favorable”.
Crew-4 has another launch opportunity available on Thursday, April 28, which will be considered if the weather is still unfavorable. “Further changes to the Crew-4 launch date may be required in the event that adverse weather conditions prevent a quick landing of the Axiom 1 (Ax-1) mission currently docked at the space station – NASA added – . AX-1, the first fully private astronaut mission to the station, is now scheduled to disengage from the orbital complex at 6:35 p.m. Saturday April 23 and crash at 1:46 p.m. Sunday April 24 off the coast of Florida. .
In addition to Cristoforetti, mission specialist for the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, mission commander, Robert Hines, pilot, and Jessica Watkins, mission specialist, will board the Dragon capsule at destination of the International Space Station. However, until the departure of the Ax-1 mission capsule currently occupying the ISS docking hatch, the crew will have to wait: the ISS release is scheduled for 0:35 a.m. on April 24 (Italian time) and landing at 7:46 p.m. the same day.