The astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have been keeping an eye on Hurricane Ian. They recently captured breathtaking photographs of the hurricane on Monday, September 26, as it headed south of Cuba into Florida, as reported first by Space.com.
NASA released these images on Wednesday, Sept. 28.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Ian was moving at a speed of around 9 mph (15 kph) toward the north-northeast and was forecast to turn to the northeast on Thursday.
Based on its projected path, Ian's center is anticipated to approach land quickly, go through central Florida Wednesday night and Thursday morning, and emerge over the western Atlantic by late Thursday, according to an NHC update.
Furthermore, Ian is expected to move northward on Friday and make landfall along the beaches of northeastern Florida as well as Georgia and South Carolina late on Friday.
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Ian Cancels Artemis 1 and Crew-5
State officials in Florida commanded citizens in the storm's path to evacuate in the days leading up to Hurricane Ian's impact. Additionally, NASA decided to move the massive, 322-foot-tall (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket into the shelter of its hangar at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Due to the storm, NASA has once again delayed its plans to launch the Artemis 1 mission to the moon using the first Space Launch System rocket.
The launch of a fresh crew to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft was also postponed by NASA and SpaceX.
This mission, which will launch from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center no sooner than Oct. 4, will include two American astronauts, a Japanese astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut.
NASA said in a blog post that mission teams will keep an eye on Ian's effects on Florida's Space Coast and Kennedy Space Center, and if required, they may change the launch date once more.
In the upcoming days, more information on the planned timetable, including crew arrival from the organization's Johnson Space Center to Kennedy, will be made available.
Crew arrival is anticipated to happen no earlier than Friday, Sept. 30, based on existing scheduling. For NASA and SpaceX, the safety of the crew, ground personnel, and equipment are of the highest concern for now.
Teams from NASA and SpaceX will assess any potential effects on the center as the storm intensifies and decide whether to modify the mission timeframe based on their findings.
The Kennedy Space Center is staffed with a small "ride-out" team to monitor the hardware and systems of NASA's spacecraft.
The US Space Force also took steps at the neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to protect the facility from Hurricane Ian, which is expected to hit the two spaceports by Thursday.
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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
