(ANSA) - MILAN, FEBRUARY 22 - NASA and SpaceX have decided to postpone the launch of the Crew-6 mission from Sunday to Monday, which will bring four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS): the Americans Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg of NASA, the Russian Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos and Sultan al-Neyadi of the United Arab Emirates.
The launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, originally scheduled for Sunday, February 26 at 8:07 am Italian time, was postponed to 7:45 am on Monday due to some delays in the preparation of the Crew Dragon shuttle (need new thermal analyzes of the external skin panels) and the SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket (some composite-shrouded pressure vessels will be evaluated).
The Crew-6 crew, which arrived in Florida on Tuesday for final preparations, will remain in orbit for a six-month mission.
Upon arrival on the ISS, he will also find the four astronauts from the previous Crew-5 mission (in orbit since October), who will return to Earth about five days later.
If the launch of Crew-6 were to be delayed further, for example due to the weather, it could be re-attempted on February 28, March 2 and March 4.
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