NASA and SpaceX delayed Monday's mission to send four astronauts into space due to a minor medical issue with one of the crew members.
NASA stated that the issue was not a medical emergency, and is not related to COVID-19 in a statement.
According to the statement, members of Crew-3, US astronauts Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer, from Germany, will remain in quarantine at Kennedy Space Center until their launch.
Original plans called for the crew to launch on a Crew Dragon spacecraft named Endurance, which was then fixed atop an F9 rocket from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. This took place on Sunday, October 31st.
The flight was rescheduled for Wednesday due to "a large storm system" the day before.
The launch will take place on Saturday, November 6, at 11:36 PM (0336 GMT Sunday) from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
NASA didn't specify which astronaut was affected.
LAUNCH UPDATE: The @NASA #SpaceX #Crew3 mission will now launch no earlier than 11.36 ET Saturday, November 6. This is due to a minor medical problem involving one of its crew members.
More details: https://t.co/Wwjb9U8G9G pic.twitter.com/PCiUhYD2bN NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) November 1, 2021
Crew-3 is part NASA's multibillion dollar partnership with SpaceX. It was signed after NASA ended the Space Shuttle program in 2011. The partnership aims to restore US capability to conduct human spaceflight.
Four Crew-2 astronauts will be replaced by the team, including Thomas Pesquet from France, who has been aboard the International Space Station (ISS), since April.
Crew-3 will spend six month on the orbital outpost. They will conduct research that will inform future deep space explorations and benefit Earth life.
The mission's scientific highlights include an experiment to grow plants without soil and another to make optical fibers in microgravity. These will, according to prior research, be of superior quality than those made on Earth.
Crew-3 astronauts will also perform spacewalks to upgrade the station's solar panel upgrades. They will also be present for two tourism missions including Japanese tourists aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft at end of the year, and Space-X Axiom crew set for launch in 2022.
Crew-2 was originally scheduled to return to Earth in November. NASA announced Monday that it would "continue evaluating" potential dates.
NASA stated that mission teams were reviewing options for direct and indirect handovers to crew rotations.
Agence France-Presse
