NEW YORK: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has delayed the launch of the SpaceX Crew-1 mission until early- to mid-November, the agency announced.
According to a statement, NASA said, “Originally scheduled for October 31st, the planned six-month mission was delayed to allow time to resolve issues with the first-stage engine gas generators on the Falcon 9 rocket.”
The mission eventually will bring three NASA astronauts and an astronaut from Japan’s JAXA space agency to the International Space Station. “The delay will provide additional time for SpaceX to complete hardware testing and data reviews,” the statement added.
That recent attempt was presumably the attempted liftoff of the GPS III SV04 satellite for the U.S. Space Force, which was aborted on Oct. 2 with just two seconds left on the countdown clock.
“The abort was caused by an unexpected pressure rise in the turbomachinery gas generator in the Falcon 9’s first stage,” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk explained.
Crew-1 is among six planned missions SpaceX plans to send to the ISS under a contract with NASA, awarded in 2014 as part of the Commercial Crew Program that brought private sector companies into the US space program.
