Members of the SpaceX Crew 2, from left, Thomas Pesquet, of the European Space Agency, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur, Shane Kimbrough, and Akihiko Hoshide, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, are shown on a video screen as the SpaceX Falcon 9 with the crew Dragon capsule sits on Launch Complex 39A Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Four astronauts will fly on the SpaceX Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station scheduled for launch on April 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk, left, gestures as he stands with Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana near a mockup of a Crew Dragon capsule during a news conference Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Four astronauts will fly on the SpaceX Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station scheduled for launch on April 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)Members of the SpaceX Crew 2, from left, Thomas Pesquet, of the European Space Agency, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur, Shane Kimbrough, and Akihiko Hoshide, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, are shown on a video screen as the SpaceX Falcon 9 with the crew Dragon capsule sits on Launch Complex 39A Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Four astronauts will fly on the SpaceX Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station scheduled for launch on April 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)Acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk speaks to the media as he stands with Frank De Winne, left, of the European Space Agency, and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson during a news conference Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Four astronauts will fly on the SpaceX Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station scheduled for launch on April 23. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)Hiroshi Sasaki, of Japan's Human Space Flight office, speaks to the media as he stands with Frank De Winne, left, of the European Space Agency, and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson during a news conference Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Four astronauts will fly on the SpaceX Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station scheduled for launch on April 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)This Sunday, April 18, 2021 photo made available by SpaceX shows, from left, NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide during a dress rehearsal at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for their Thursday, April 22 launch. For the first time, NASA is putting its trust in a recycled SpaceX rocket and capsule for a crew. (SpaceX via AP)
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Members of the SpaceX Crew 2, from left, Thomas Pesquet, of the European Space Agency, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur, Shane Kimbrough, and Akihiko Hoshide, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, are shown on a video screen as the SpaceX Falcon 9 with the crew Dragon capsule sits on Launch Complex 39A Wednesday, April 21, 2021, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Four astronauts will fly on the SpaceX Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station scheduled for launch on April 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX aimed to launch its third crew a little before sunrise Friday, this time using a recycled capsule and rocket.
The four astronauts, representing the U.S., Japan and France, were supposed to fly to the International Space Station on Thursday. But liftoff was delayed because of poor weather offshore.
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SpaceX’s Dragon capsule requires calm waves and winds in case an emergency splashdown is needed during the climb to orbit. Friday's forecast should be much improved, officials said. Liftoff was set for 5:49 a.m. EDT.
“Our friends on the @Space_Station are expecting us to show up and we don’t want to be late,” tweeted French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. “They even installed my bedroom recently and literally made my bed . Such nice hosts!”
For the first time, Elon Musk’s company is launching astronauts with a previously flown capsule and rocket, just as it's done for station supply runs. This crew capsule launched with SpaceX’s first crew last May, and the rocket hoisted the second crew in November.
NASA's spacecraft commander Shane Kimbrough and his crew will spend six months at the space station, replacing four astronauts who will return next Wednesday in their own SpaceX capsule, parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico near Tallahassee, Florida.
To celebrate Earth Day on Thursday, Kimbrough tweeted a sunrise beach shot from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
“Amazing way to appreciate our planet this morning!” he said.
Besides Kimbrough and Pesquet, the crew includes NASA's Megan McArthur and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide.
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