NASA and SpaceX’s collaborative mission Crew-3 is a “go” for launch after a flight readiness review conducted on October 25 found no hindrances. The review has concluded and the teams are proceeding towards the liftoff which will take place at the Kennedy Space Center on October 31 at 11.51 am (IST). As part of the preparations, SpaceX’s spacecraft ‘Endurance’ has been brought in the open ahead of the launch.

Astronauts arrive at the launch site

The crew of four astronauts for this flight — NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kyala Barron, as well as European Space Agency astronaut Mathias Maurer — have arrived at the launch site after spending a few days in quarantine. NASA explained that the team was subjected to isolation before their departure to the International Space Station (ISS) as a routine part of the final preparations under “flight crew health stabilization”. It further added that “spending the final two weeks before liftoff in quarantine will help ensure the Crew-3 crew is healthy, protecting themselves and the astronauts already on the space station.”

The Crew-3 is a rotation mission that will ferry this new team of astronauts to the ISS and bring back the Crew-2 astronauts including NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet. Raja Chari, an Indian-American astronaut will be leading this journey for a six-month stay in the orbiting laboratory. 

SpaceX and the toilet debacle

SpaceX’s last Dragon spacecraft ‘Resilience’ that carried astronauts for the Inspiration4 mission had some issues with its waste management system that is being taken seriously this time. As the inspections followed the launch last month, it was revealed that a tube connected to a storage tank has turned loose which made the waste go into the fan system. However, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk himself had acknowledged the issue and promised to upgrade the system for future uses. 

(Image: Twitter/@AstroMashburn)