PHOTO
Emirati observers watch at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai on February 27, 2023 as a screen shows the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company�s Crew Dragon spacecraft venting fuel prior to a scrubbed launch from pad 39A for the Crew-6 mission at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. - The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch to the International Space Station was postponed on February 27, with officials citing problems with ground systems. The SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 mission was scheduled to depart the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:45 am (0645 GMT), carrying two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and the second Emirati to voyage to space. Sultan al-Neyadi, 41, of the United Arab Emirates is to spend six months on the orbiting station. He will be the fourth astronaut from an Arab country and the second from the oil-rich UAE to journey to space. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP)
UAE - After a three-day delay, it’s a ‘Go’ for the launch of UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi’s mission to space. Nasa’s Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station will blast off at 12.34am EST (9.34am UAE time) on Thursday, March 2, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
The announcement came after a launch readiness review, weather briefing, and mission management meeting on February 28.
Mission teams stood down from a February 27 launch attempt to review an “unusual data signature” in the ignition fluid used to start the Falcon 9’s nine first stage kerosene/liquid oxygen Merlin engines.
"During prelaunch, the TEA-TEB fluid – which originates in a ground supply tank – flows to the rocket’s interface and back to a catch tank to remove gas from the ground plumbing. During engine start, the fluid then flows to the engines for ignition. Flow into the catch tank is one of several parameters used to determine that the fluid has been properly bled into the system,” Nasa said in a statement.
“After a thorough review of the data and ground system, NASA and SpaceX determined there was a reduced flow back to the ground TEA-TEB catch tank due to a clogged ground filter. This clogged filter fully-explained the signature observed on the launch attempt. SpaceX teams replaced the filter, purged the TEA-TEB line with nitrogen, and verified the lines are clean and ready for launch.”
Officials with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron predicted a 95 per cent chance of favourable weather conditions for the Crew-6 launch.
Nasa astronauts Stephen Bowen, mission commander, and Warren Hoburg, pilot, along with UAE astronaut AlNeyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who join as mission specialists, will travel to the space station on a six-month mission.
After an approximate 24.5-hour space flight, the crew will dock to the space-facing port of the microgravity laboratory’s Harmony module about 10am (UAE time).
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