Thomas Pesquet’s return to Earth still under discussion

The question of Thomas Pesquet’s return to Earth after a 6-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS) is still pending. NASA and SpaceX are still investigating separate launch and return scenarios for Crew 3 and Crew 2. To pick from Thomas Pesquet, Americans Shane Kimbrough and Megan MacArthur the “classic” scenario should be launched first. , and the Japanese Akihiko Hoshide whose mission is nearing its end. However, it looks like they are returning to Earth before the launch of Crew 3.”Due to meteorological considerations associated with launch and recovery operationsCrew-2’s undocking from the space station may begin at 6:05 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. KST to land off the coast of Florida. If conditions prove unfavourable, a second undocking window is scheduled for Monday, November 8.

The Crew Dragon 3 capsule on top of the Falcon 9 launcher on November 5, 2021 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. credit: SpaceX

Strong Winds and Cumulus Clouds space above base

As for the launch of the new crew aboard SpaceX’s Crew-3 capsule — namely German Mathias Maurer and Americans Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron, it could happen Tuesday at 2:51 a.m. in Paris). But this would only be possible if the teams left the return tasks of Thomas Pesquet and his colleagues on the 7th or 8th. In short, it’s a big blur!

Weather conditions are really unfavorable in the coming days, especially due to strong winds and the presence of cumulus clouds over the space base and flight abandonment sites – in the event of a problem during launch, the capsule may actually have to return immediately on earth. For now, the CrewDragon capsule is installed on top of a Falcon 9 rocket at its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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