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Watch SpaceX Crew-4 mission depart space station on Thursday (Oct. 13)

Writer's picture: ankitbiswas2000ankitbiswas2000


After a weather delay, Crew-4's Dragon is slated to launch at 10:05 a.m. ET.

NASA and SpaceX have postponed the undocking of the Crew-4 astronauts on the Crew Dragon Freedom due to weather concerns at their splashdown site off the Florida coast. Undocking is now set for Thursday, Oct. 13.


NASA officials said in a blog post(opens in new tab) Wednesday that Crew-4's Dragon capsule, called Freedom, is set to undock from the orbiting lab Thursday at 10:05 a.m. EDT (1405 GMT) (Oct. 13). Due to bad weather, this is a postponement from Wednesday evening.

You can watch it live here on Space.com thanks to NASA, or you can go to the space agency's website directly (opens in new tab). The departure timing is uncertain, according to NASA.

"According to agency officials' blog post, "Mission teams continue to monitor a cold front passing over Florida with the potential to produce heavy winds and stormy weather near the splashdown zones off the Atlantic and Gulf coasts." Mission personnel will keep an eye on the circumstances for splashdown and recovery, and another weather evaluation will take place around six hours before undocking".


Wednesday's activities got underway very early. The four members of Crew-4 said their goodbyes at 10:05 a.m. EDT (14:05 GMT). Around that time, one of them—current ISS commander Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency—transferred command of the orbiting lab to Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev in a ceremony.


Thursday's undocking is anticipated to occur at 10:05 a.m. EDT (14:05 GMT), with coverage likely beginning about 20 minutes beforehand. This is an extension of a Wednesday night undocking scheduled for 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT).


Freedom is anticipated to splash down off the Florida coast on Thursday at 5:41 p.m. EDT, should undocking go as planned (2141 GMT). At 7 p.m. EDT on that day, NASA and SpaceX intend to host a press conference following the splashdown (2300 GMT).


In addition to a representative from SpaceX, the briefing will also include Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, Joel Montalbano, manager of NASA's International Space Station programme, and Steve Stich.


However, none of these dates are fixed; they are reliant on favorable anticipated weather in Freedom's prospective splashdown regions in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

NASA officials stated in the blog post published on Wednesday that "Crew-4's Dragon undocking depends on a multitude of conditions, including spacecraft readiness, recovery team preparation, weather, sea states, and other considerations." "Dragon Freedom is now docked to the space station and is in good health. There are additionally backup undocking opportunities on Friday, October 14.



Edited by: Ankit Biswas


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