SpaceX Crew-6 ISS launch scrubbed; Empty Soyuz docks as replacement

SpaceX Crew-6 ISS launch scrubbed; Empty Soyuz docks as replacement
by Darryl Coote
Washington DC (UPI) Feb 27, 2021

The Crew-6 Mission to the International Space Station was scrubbed early Monday due to an issue with the Falcon 9's ignition system.

NASA and SpaceX were scheduled to launch a Flacon 9 rocket topped by the Dragon Endeavor spacecraft at 1:45 a.m. Monday from Launch Complex 39A in Florida's Cape Canaveral.

But with about 2 minutes and 30 seconds before liftoff, the launch was scrubbed over issues on the ground with the TEA-TEB ignition fluid that is used to ignite the rocket's engines.

As there is only one shot a day for a launch to the space station, the liftoff was pushed roughly 24 hours to early Tuesday when they will try again to send the Crew-6 Mission to the orbital laboratory.

Crew-6 was originally supposed to launch on Sunday, but NASA and SpaceX last week had delayed the liftoff 24 hours to Monday morning to allow engineers time to work on what were called "minor issues."

The mission is to be the sixth crew rotation flight of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and its seventh with astronauts, including a test flight, to the space station under NASA's commercial crew program.

The four crew members of NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren "Woody" Hoburg along with United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev were to arrive at the International Space Station some 25 hours after liftoff.

Their arrival, when it happens, will be followed by a short handover period from the SpaceX Crew-5 Mission who will depart the microgravity laboratory for home next month. NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada and cosmonaut Anna Kikina and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata have been living on the space station since Oct. 6.

Crew-6 is to be on the low-Earth orbit station for up to six months as they perform science, experiments and space station maintenance.

Russian ship docks with ISS to replace damaged capsule
Moscow (AFP) Feb 26, 2023 - An uncrewed Russian Soyuz capsule docked early Sunday with the International Space Station and will eventually bring home three astronauts whose initial return vehicle was damaged by a tiny meteoroid.

The MS-23 ship autonomously latched to the orbiting research lab, live video from ISS-partner NASA showed, completing the Soyuz's two-day journey after launching off from Kazakhstan.

It is expected to bring home US astronaut Frank Rubio and Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev in September.

The three arrived at the ISS last September aboard MS-22, and were originally only supposed to stay about six months, until the end of March.

But their capsule began leaking coolant in mid-December after being hit by what US and Russian officials believe was a tiny space rock.

Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, decided to send MS-23 to replace the damaged vessel, but without its own three planned crew members.

With no one to replace them, Rubio, Petelin and Prokopyev will now spend almost a year in space.

The damaged MS-22 is expected to depart the space station without passengers and return to Earth in late March.

There are four others currently on board the ISS, who arrived on a SpaceX Dragon capsule last October as part of the Crew-5 mission.

They are scheduled to be joined next week by members of the Crew-6 mission -- two Americans, an Emirati and a Russian -- who will also arrive aboard a SpaceX capsule expected to launch Monday from Florida.

After a few days of overlap, Crew-5 will then return to Earth.