NASA was going to send a new crew to the International Space Station on a rocket, but Hurricane Ian has put that on hold. The Crew-5 mission has been pushed back by at least a day and will be launched on October 4th.
NASA said that mission teams will continue to monitor the impacts of Ian on the Space Coast and could adjust the launch date again as necessary. The safety of the crew, ground teams, and hardware is important to NASA.
Shortly after NASA made the call to send the Artemis I rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building from the launch pad, the decision was made. Ian is close to a Category 5 Hurricane.
The safety of the crew, ground teams, and hardware is paramount.
Hurricane Ian is going to have a big impact on wind, rain, and flooding. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in an update this morning that this is going to be a bad day.
The Crew-5 mission will take place inside the hangar at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA said in a post that it would evaluate the potential impacts to the center after the storm.
The crew will arrive at Kennedy no later than September 30th.
A group of people will stay on-site during Hurricane Ian. NASA is encouraging its civil servant employees to telework over the next couple of days until there is an all-clear, as the agency rushed to prepare its facilities for the storm.
The Crew-5 mission will be launched on October 4th at 12:23PM. There is a second window on October 5th. Once the mission is ready to launch, the crew will be taken to the International Space Station, where they will spend up to six months conducting research. They'll be working on a number of projects, including the study of how fuel systems might operate on the moon.
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