The Crew-8 team is still waiting for the green light to head home as weather off the coast of Florida has delayed their departure. Originally, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission was scheduled to undock Monday night, but now it’s been pushed to no earlier than 9:05 PM EDT. The mission officials are keeping a close eye on weather conditions before they make any final decisions.
Crew-8 members Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps (all from NASA), and Alexander Grebenkin from Roscosmos adjusted their sleep schedules, preparing for the planned departure. Since the weather caused a delay, they spent the day sticking to their usual exercise routines and completing their regular tasks aboard the space station. The crew will continue their adjusted sleep shifts, awaiting an updated weather briefingto know when they can finally undock and return.
Changes for the Space Station Crew
Expedition 72 Commander, Suni Williams, along with Flight Engineers Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, and Don Pettit, also shifted their schedules to assist with Crew-8’s departure. After the delay, they enjoyed a lighter workload on Monday, preparing for Tuesday’s possible departure.
The station’s cosmonauts, Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, and Aleksandr Gorbunov, stayed focused on their tasks. Ovchinin spent his time replacing parts of the life support system in the Zvezda service module, while Vagner packed up old equipment in the Progress 88 ship for its upcoming departure. Gorbunov downloaded radiation data and cleaned laptops in the Nauka science module.
With the weather still uncertain, everyone is waiting for the next update to see when the Crew-8 mission can safely undock.