Updated October 14: SpaceX and NASA aim to undock Crew Dragon Freedom from the International Space Station today, October 14, at 11:35 a.m. EDT (15:35 GMT) to return its four Crew-4 astronauts on Earth. The mission’s departure has been delayed two days due to bad weather at the Dragon splash site off the coast of Florida. NASA’s live webcast of the undocking will begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT).
SpaceX’s Crew-4 mission will lift off from the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday (October 14) after two weather delays, and you can watch the action live.
Crew-4’s Dragon capsule, named Freedom, will attempt to undock a third time sometime Friday, NASA officials said in a tweet (opens in a new tab). That’s after two undocking delays on Wednesday (Oct. 13) and Thursday (Oct. 14) due to weather, NASA officials said. The drop date is also pushed back from what it was supposed to be today (Thursday).
“@NASA and @SpaceX mission controllers undocked #Crew4 on Dragon Freedom today due to weather issues at the undock site in Florida. Friday undock times are currently being evaluated,” officials wrote ( opens in a new tab).
When the undocking happens, you can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly through the space agency (opens in a new tab).
Related: Incredible Photos of SpaceX’s Crew-4 Mission
After the spill off the coast of Florida, NASA and SpaceX plan to hold a post-splash press conference at a time to be announced.
This briefing will feature Steve Stich, NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager; Joel Montalbano, NASA International Space Station Program Director; and a representative of SpaceX, according to previous information from NASA.
None of these times are set in stone, however; are dependent on expected good weather in Freedom’s potential splash zones in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean.
Crew-4 launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on April 27 and arrived at the ISS that same day. The mission consists of Cristoforetti and NASA astronauts Robert Hines, Kjell Lindgren and Jessica Watkins.
As the name suggests, Crew-4 is the fourth contract astronaut mission that SpaceX has flown to NASA’s orbiting laboratory. It is one of two SpaceX flights currently on the ISS; Crew-5 arrived on October 6 for a five-month stay.
This story was updated at 3:40 PM EDT on Wednesday, October 12 with news about the decoupling delay and updated decoupling opportunities. This story was updated again at 9:17 a.m. EDT on Thursday, October 13 with news of the undocking delays and splashdowns due to weather.
Mike Wall is the author of “Over there (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in a new tab). follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) or enabled Facebook (opens in a new tab).