NASA postpones launch to International Space Station due to weather concerns

By Simgenur Akbolat

ISTANBUL (AA) - NASA and SpaceX postponed the Crew-12 mission launch to the International Space Station until Thursday morning due to unfavorable weather forecasts, the US space agency announced Monday.

"Mission teams completed a weather review on Monday and elected to waive off a Wednesday launch opportunity due to forecast weather conditions along the flight path of the Dragon spacecraft," NASA said in a statement.

The space agency and tech billionaire Elon Musk's company are now targeting no earlier than 5.38 am local time (1038GMT) Thursday for liftoff from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev remain in quarantine at Kennedy Space Center in Florida awaiting the next launch window, the statement said.

The crew are due to lift off aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40.

A SpaceX Dragon carrying Crew-11 scientists from NASA, Roscosmos, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency returned to Earth on Jan. 15 from the station.

NASA said that crew's premature return followed monitoring of a medical concern involving one member, handled out of an abundance of caution, without giving additional details.