The Crew-3 mission has successfully reached the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday evening. The four astronauts part of the mission were aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that they have named Endurance.
The mission was launched on Wednesday after multiple days in its launch date. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched the astronauts from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Crew-3 mission experienced a total of four delays in its launch due to different circumstances, including poor weather conditions, a minor medical issue, and the arrival of the Crew-2 mission.
Crew-3 Mission Successfully Arrives at ISS
Four new astronauts through the hatch and seven crewmembers total on the @Space_Station!
— NASA (@NASA) November 12, 2021
After almost exactly a day from launch, #Crew3 is aboard the orbiting laboratory. pic.twitter.com/QJoBUsJcsj
The Crew-3 mission has successfully arrived at the ISS Thursday evening less than a day after it was launched from Florida.
According to a report by Space, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which the Crew-3 astronauts named Endurance, "linked up with the station's U.S.-built Harmony module at 6:32 p.m. EST."
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has shared a video of the arrival of the four Crew-3 mission astronauts at the ISS on its official Twitter account. NASA said that there are now a total of seven crew members in the ISS.
The four Crew-3 mission astronauts are NASA's Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer, who is from the European Space Agency (ESA). It is Chari, Barron, and Maurer's first time in space.
The Crew-3 mission is set to last for six months. According to the report by Space, the four astronauts "will work on more than 200 science experiments and conduct spacewalks during their time at the station, which orbits an average of 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth.
Related Article: NASA, SpaceX Finally Launching the Delayed Crew-3 Mission Today
The Multiple Delays in the Crew-3 Mission Launch
The initial launch date of the Crew-3 mission was actually set for October 31. The first delay took place when the launch date was rescheduled to November 3 due to unfavorable weather conditions on the initial launch date.
The Crew-3 mission then experienced its second delay when the launch date was moved again, this time to November 6. The change was due to a minor medical condition of one of the four astronauts part of the mission.
The third delay happened when the launch was moved to November 8. As with the first delay, the reason behind NASA and SpaceX delaying the mission once more was due to unfavorable weather conditions.
The fourth and final change moved the launch date from November 8 to November 10 due to the arrival of the Crew-2 mission from the ISS.
Crew-4 Mission
Now that the Crew-3 mission has successfully docked at the ISS and the Crew-2 astronauts are safely back here on Earth, what is next?
There is actually a next crewed mission, which will be known as the Crew-3 mission. According to the report by Space, the mission is expected to launch in April of next year.
Read Also: LOOK: ISS Releases Photos of SpaceX Crew-2 Departing From Station, Elon Musk Gets Mind Blown
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Written by Isabella James
