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On Sunday, the German Esa astronaut Matthias Maurer was supposed to become the twelfth German in space with the start of the International Space Station ISS. Now the start has been postponed – for the second time. The crew reacts calmly – and the prospects are good.
Cape Canaveral – Due to bad weather conditions, the US space agency NASA has postponed the flight to the International Space Station ISS with the German astronaut Matthias Maurer.
The start is now planned for Wednesday (November 3rd), Nasa announced on Saturday morning. The conditions on site at the spaceport in Cape Canaveral were “fantastic”, as Will Ulrich, the NASA weather expert, said at a press conference on Saturday night. But a “large storm system” in the further course of the flight route over the Atlantic, which caused strong winds and high waves, ultimately led to the postponement.
Launch update ➡️ @NASA‘s @SpaceX # Crew3 mission is now targeted for Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 1:10 am ET due to a large storm system elevating winds and waves in the Atlantic Ocean along the Crew Dragon flight path for the Oct. 31 launch attempt. Learn more: https://t.co/WdCdLAKnd4 pic.twitter.com/Z2u0nFRmC6
– NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) October 30, 2021
It was actually planned that a German astronaut would fly into space with Maurer for the first time in three years. Together with his NASA colleagues Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, the 51-year-old Saarland native was to start from Cape Canaveral on the east coast of the US state of Florida to the International Space Station ISS. All over the world and in the home of the Saarlander, many people had been looking forward to the start of the mission. Numerous events had been planned.
The postponement of the start was taken up “very professionally” by the crew around Maurer, said the head of the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Walther Pelzer, on Saturday of the German Press Agency. The mood of the crew is very good. “You are looking forward to the flight and know that it is about to start.” Maurer himself commented on the short message service Twitter: “Enjoy your Sunday sleep and a few more days to get used to the change from CEST to CET.”
The crew spends the time leading up to the new start date with routine work, explained Pelzer. “You have the opportunity to go through some things again in detail. And it’s time to make contact with family and friends. ”There are currently no plans to shorten or cancel experiments on the ISS due to the postponement. “It can be that things are compressed.” In principle, a renewed postponement of the start cannot be ruled out. “But NASA says that the weather window looks very good at the moment.”
The NASA launch is currently planned for next Wednesday at 1:10 a.m. local time. This corresponds to 6:10 a.m. Central European Time – after the clocks are set back from 3:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. on Sunday. Previously, the planned start date was brought forward from October 31st to October 30th – and then pushed back again.
Meanwhile, the Saarlanders are sticking to the celebration of Maurer’s space flight planned for Sunday. “The event will take place as planned, just without the broadcast of Cape Canaveral,” said a government spokesman on Saturday in Saarbrücken. Saarland’s Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) and the director of the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), Mathias Link, have also announced themselves for the all-day celebration in Maurer’s hometown Oberthal.
Maurer would be the twelfth German in space – and the fourth German on the ISS. Together with Marshburn, Chari and Barron, the astronaut forms “Crew-3”. The four are transported in the “Crew Dragon” of the space company SpaceX by Elon Musk. On the ISS, Maurer will carry out numerous experiments over a period of about six months at an altitude of around 400 kilometers and will also complete an outdoor assignment. dpa
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