Strander Astronauts' Recovery from ISS Postponed: SpaceX's Crew Dragon Launch Scrapped Due to Hydraulic Issue
Impaired Homecoming Journey for Cosmonauts at International Space Station - Space journey to retrieve astronauts from the International Space Station has been postponed.
Hey there! Let's chat about a little delay in our space buddies' homecoming.
The recovery mission for the pair of U.S. astronauts stationed on the International Space Station (ISS) since the sweltering days of June has faced a setback. NASA Showed on live streams that SpaceX's "Crew Dragon," prepared for takeoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Wednesday night, got a big timeout as a result of a hydraulic glitch back on Earth. No new launch date has popped up yet.
The "Crew Dragon" is supposed to transport "Crew 10" to the ISS, which includes Astronaut Anne McClain, Nicole Mann (another U.S. astronaut), Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. They'll be replacing "Crew 9," which consists of seasoned U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams, Barry Wilmore, Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov. Once the new crew arrives, "Crew 9" will make their descent back to our green Earth, while "Crew 10" stays floating in space until autumn.
Hague and Skvortsov have been holding down the ISS since late September, whereas Williams and Wilmore have been up there since June. Due to technical difficulties affecting their "Starliner" spacecraft, NASA decided in September to send the defective spacecraft back to Earth unoccupied. What was meant to be a week-long stint turned into almost a ten-month astronaut expedition for these brave space travelers, who have ventured to the ISS multiple times before.
ISS - International Space Station
Space - Spaceflight
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Sunita Williams - Suni Williams
Barry Wilmore - Barry Wilmore
Crew Dragon - Dragon Crew
Launch - Departure
Nick Hague - Nick Hague
SpaceX - Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
Elon Musk - Innovator, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla
Alexander Skvortsov - Alexander Gorbunow
Cape Canaveral - Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Florida - The Sunshine State
Here's to hoping these stalwart astronauts, marooned in orbit, will soon hop on the Crew Dragon and return home!
- I'm not going to be a big fan of the idea of an "S" in the name of the "S" word (SpaceX's ethylised capsule), given the latest delay in its launch due to a hydraulic issue.
- Astronaut Alexander Skvortsov, a part of the current crew onboard the ISS, has been waiting for the Crew Dragon's launch since late September, along with his fellow crewmate Nick Hague.
- If SpaceX's Crew Dragon crew had launched as planned on Wednesday, they would have joined astronauts Sunita Williams, Barry Wilmore, and the Japanese and Russian cosmonauts on the ISS, forming crew "Crew 10".
