NASA resets for Crew-5, Artemis I missions post-Ian

Members of the next crew set to visit the International Space Station have arrived in preparation for a launch from Florida following a delay caused by Hurricane Ian.

Ian made landfall as a deadly Category 4 hurricane on Florida's west coast last week with a direct hit on the Fort Myers area. The storm caused delays for NASA space programs due to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral on the other side of the state peninsula.

A compilation of multiple images shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching a Cargo Dragon-2 spacecraft for NASA on its 25th resupply mission from Complex 39A at 8:44 PM from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on Thursday, July 14, 2022. Dragon is carrying 5,000 pounds of equipment and supplies to the International Space Station. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI

By Saturday, however, four members of the Crew-5 mission for Elon Musk's private program SpaceX arrived in preparation for a new launch, Orlando's ABC affiliate WFTV reported.

NASA said its astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada will join Japan's Koichi Wakata and Russia's Anna Kikina on the flight to the International Space Station.

"This is the fifth crew rotation mission with astronauts using the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket to the orbiting laboratory as part of the agency's commercial crew program," NASA explained.

The launch is scheduled for noon EDT on Wednesday. The SpaceX craft is expected to dock with the ISS a little more than a day later, shortly before 5p.m. EDT on Thursday.

Ian had also led NASA to scrub another effort to launch its Artemis I test flight to the moon. NASA said that after Ian hit, it found most of the flight facilities were still in good shape with only some minor flooding reported. More testing is expected in the coming weeks.

Artemis 1 sits on Launch Pad 39B under dark clouds at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on Friday, September 2, 2022. NASA's SLS rocket with the Orion capsule module atop is scheduled to make its second attempt to lift off on Saturday, September 3, 2022. Artemis 1 will orbit the moon as the first step for the United States to send astronauts back to the lunar surface after 50 years. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI

"As teams complete post-storm recovery operations, NASA has determined it will focus Artemis I launch planning efforts on the launch period that opens Nov. 12 and closes Nov. 27," NASA said.

Ian forced the Artemis team to roll the nearly 3,000-ton Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The 4-mile move from the launch pad took more than nine hours to complete.

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