SpaceX’s Crew-8 faces weekslong weather delays; splashdown off Florida coast could happen Friday

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – The crew of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission is in a familiar holding pattern as ground teams search for suitable weather conditions for the Dragon capsule’s landing following weeks of weather delays.On Tuesday, NASA and SpaceX announced they were targeting no earlier than 5 p.m. ET Wednesday for the Crew-8 mission to depart from the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. This would result in a splashdown off the coast of Florida on Friday.The region has endured weeks of hostile weather, including everything from hurricanes to nor’easters, which have resulted in rough seas and coastal flooding.”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,” NASA wrote in a Tuesday blog post.NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, were originally expected to return home over the summer, but their mission was extended to assist Boeing’s failed crewed test flight.Following the successful docking of a half-empty Crew-9 spacecraft, NASA scheduled a return date for Crew-8 in early October, but that was sidetracked by Hurricane Milton, which struck Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 cyclone.PIECE OF SUSPECTED SPACE DEBRIS FOUND IN RURAL NORTH CAROLINANASA facilities along the Space Coast were closed ahead of the expected flooding and gusty winds, with only essential workers operating operations during the hurricane.Milton’s center passed nearly directly over the space center before exiting the Florida coastline as a Category 1 hurricane.NASA reported damage to its campus but said impacts were relatively minor and mainly involved doors, awnings, traffic lights and trailers.The hurricane did not impact operations at the International Space Station, which currently has 11 souls on board.SEE RENDERINGS OF SPACE STATION TO BE BUILT AROUND THE MOONSubsequent planned landing attempts post-hurricane were also rescheduled due to rough seas and gusty winds in splashdown zones.The most recent departure delay was caused by winds off Florida’s coast. Wind limits were still above the flight rule limits. Still, NASA’s mission control in Houston told the Crew-8 astronaut to continue preparing for departure. “The team is basically trying what we can, right? So, hopefully, we get lucky, and once the high-resolution models come in overnight tonight, we’ll be able to get a better idea if we’re going to be able to accomplish that or not,” mission control told the astronauts. SpaceX can land the Crew Dragon spacecraft at one of seven locations around the Florida Peninsula, including Pensacola, Tampa, Tallahassee, Panama City, Cape Canaveral, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville.NASA has specific criteria for a successful spacecraft recovery, including wind speed no greater than 15 feet per second and wave height no greater than 7 degrees wave slope. Lightning must be farther than 10 miles out, and rain chances need to be around 25%.If the weather improves, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft’s earliest splashdown opportunity will be about 12:55 p.m. on Tuesday near Panama City, Florida. The additional time aboard the ISS has been well spent, as the crew has been able to conduct hundreds of scientific experiments.”Crew-8’s mission will further the understanding of how humans learn and behave in space and how their bodies respond, and it’s all critical to our lunar exploration. We need all of these to come together to understand how people and technologies and systems will behave when we go on longer-duration missions,” NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free said after the mission’s launch.The Dragon spacecraft designated for the SpaceX Crew-9 mission is expected to return home in February and will carry Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov along with Boeing Starliner astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who have been stuck aboard the ISS since June 6.