NASA gives new date for Crew-8 undocking of the ISS
- by News 13
- Oct 23, 2024
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UPDATED 12:05 PM ET Oct. 23, 2024
PUBLISHED 11:21 AM ET Oct. 22, 2024
PUBLISHED 11:21 AM EDT Oct. 22, 2024
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FLORIDA — NASA and SpaceX are now eyeing a new undocking date for the Crew-8 members to leave the International Space Station.
What You Need To Know
Poor weather has made the return home difficult Get more space coverage here ▶
Late on Tuesday afternoon, NASA stated that the new date is 5:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 23, with Friday being the splashdown date.
However, poor weather has been making the undocking iffy, with the U.S. space agency recently considering Tuesday night for the undocking.
But as of Tuesday afternoon, the new date now is Wednesday but it all depends on the weather conditions.
“Forecasters have seen improvement in expected weather at some of the landing sites off the coast of Florida and continue to monitor conditions while considering splashdown sites and exact timing. The next weather briefing is scheduled for 9 a.m., Wednesday,” NASA stated.
The splashdown is expected to happen around 3:05 a.m ET, Friday, about 34 hours after undocking. Before the new announcement, NASA stated that depending on the time of the undocking and other factors like weather conditions, it could take six to 39 hours for the Crew-8 to return to Earth.
No exact location has been given for the different splash zones, but Mother Nature has not been kind for the return home.
Trying to return home
Crew-8 members NASA astronauts Cmdr. Matthew Dominick, pilot Michael Barratt, and mission specialists Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin took off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center back in March.
They were originally supposed to return home in August, but the mission was extended several times, especially as NASA investigated Boeing’s troubled Starliner capsule.
What was supposed to be an eightish-day mission for Starliner’s Cmdr. Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Sunita “Suni” Williams in June turned into a months-long odyssey as their craft suffered from thruster issues and helium leaks.
NASA kept pushing their stay on the ISS as engineers launched an investigation, which resulted in the Crew-8 staying onboard longer in case an emergency occurred, where Wilmore and Williams would have needed SpaceX’s Dragon to return home.
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