NASA has deferred the launch of the SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station due to poor weather conditions along the Crew Dragon flight path. The liftoff was targeted for Sunday, October 31.

The U.S. space agency is now targeting Wednesday, November 3, for the launch of the third crew rotation mission under its Commercial Crew Program.

“NASA and SpaceX now are targeting 1:10 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Nov. 3, for the agency’s Crew-3 launch to the International Space Station due to a large storm system meandering across the Ohio Valley and through the northeastern United States this weekend, elevating winds and waves in the Atlantic Ocean along the Crew Dragon flight path for the Oct. 31 launch attempt,” the agency wrote in a blog post on Saturday.

According to NASA, weather conditions along the ascent corridor are expected to improve for the next launch attempt on November 3, with the 45th Weather Squadron forecast predicting an 80% chance of favourable weather conditions at the launch site.

The Crew-3 astronauts, Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron of NASA and Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency (ESA), will launch on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida. After spending six months in space, they will return to Earth in late April 2022.

(To be updated)