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NASA, SpaceX Crew-3 launch delayed one day

Launch now scheduled for Halloween

SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts (from left) Matthias Maurer, Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron pose for a portrait during preflight training at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. (SpaceX)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA and SpaceX’s Crew-3 launch is now scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 31.

The Commercial Crew Dragon launch is now set to take off at 2:21 a.m. from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

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NASA said the delay was to allow more time for “spacecraft processing.” The backup time for the launch is 1:10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 3.

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Crew-3 astronauts — which includes NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Mathias Maurer — are scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station early in the morning on Nov. 1, according to NASA.

The launch was originally scheduled for the day before, Saturday, Oct. 30. at 2:43 a.m.

The Crew-3 astronauts are scheduled for a “long-duration science mission aboard the orbiting laboratory, living and working as part of what is expected to be a seven-member crew,” according to NASA.

They will have some overlap with the Crew-2 mission astronauts — NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet — who are set to return to Earth onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavor, splashing down in one of seven zones off the coast of Florida, NASA said.

The Crew-3 mission will be the fifth crewed launch for the Crew Dragon capsule, but only the fourth for NASA.