NASA plans to revive plans to send Crew-11 to the ISS

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and aerospace company SpaceX have postponed the launch of the Crew-11 manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS) at the last minute due to unfavorable weather at the launch site.

According to the original plan, the Dragon spacecraft carrying four crew members for the Crew-11 mission will be launched at 12:09 on July 31, East Coast time (11:09 p.m. the same day, Vietnam time) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (USA).

However, the launch was halted just before the launch time about 1 minute due to thick clouds and the risk of thunderstorms around the launch pad area. According to NASA, the next launch opportunity may be on August 1 local time.

The four members of the Crew-11 mission include two NASA astronauts, Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, astronaut Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and astronaut Oleg Platonov of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos). This will be the first space flight for astronauts Cardman and Platonov.

While ISS missions typically last six months, the Crew-11 mission could be the first of several planned eight-month missions, part of a new effort to synchronize US and Russian schedules.

Crew-11 is a mission that continues a series of successful flights by NASA and SpaceX, contributing to maintaining a sustainable human presence in space and opening up new steps in space exploration .

Crew-11 will replace Crew-10 on the ISS. Crew-10 is scheduled to leave the station on August 6.

The plan to carry out the Crew-11 mission took place in the context that the leaders of the Russian and US space agencies held their first talks after a five-year hiatus, opening up new prospects for bilateral relations in this field.

At the meeting on July 31 at the Kennedy Space Center, Director of the Russian Space Research Corporation (Roskosmos) Dmitry Bakanov and US Secretary of Transportation and Director of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Sean Duffy discussed many important issues such as maintaining the operation of the ISS and promoting lunar and deep space exploration programs.

The two sides have also established a joint working group to study options for removing the ISS from safe orbit as well as plans to sink the station in the future./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/nasa-du-kien-phuc-hoi-ke-hoach-dua-phi-hanh-doan-crew-11-len-iss-post1053154.vnp