NASA and SpaceX are planning to undock the Crew-8 mission vehicle from the ISS on October 13 at 3:05 a.m. Eastern time. The Crew-8 astronauts were originally scheduled to return to Earth on October 7, but since their spacecraft is scheduled to touch down off the coast of Florida, NASA and SpaceX had decided to push it back “due to weather conditions and the potential impacts of Hurricane Milton.”
They will hold another briefing on the situation on October 11 and may further delay the mission’s return to protect everyone involved. The Crew-8 mission launched on March 4 this year with four members: NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barrett and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut, Alexander Grebenkin.
They performed several experiments while on the International Space Station, such as sequencing the DNA of any antibiotic-resistant organisms found on the ISS to see how they adapted to the conditions there.
They also studied human brain organoids created from stem cells to explore Parkinson’s disease and how extended space flight affects the human brain.
They printed human tissues, studied how microgravity affects drug manufacturing and worked with the Astrobee robot. NASA will likely cover their flight on a livestream.
While Crew-8 has not yet departed the space station, astronauts from SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission have been aboard since Sept. 29. That mission flew with only two crew members, as it is returning home with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who originally flew to the ISS on a Boeing Starliner.
Wilmore and Williams have already tried and tested their SpaceX Intravehicular Activity spacesuits and completed all the work needed to fly back to Earth with the Crew-9 vehicle, NASA said.