SpaceX's flight to send the next batch of astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed by several weeks after the Falcon 9 rocket that will be used for the trip was damaged during transit.


The SpaceX Crew-5 mission is scheduled to launch in early September, but will continue until September 29, NASA announced. The delay will give Elon Musk's company time to repair or replace damaged hardware and more time to install new heat shields, parachutes, and panels under the usable capsule that carries the astronaut.

 "Late September will allow SpaceX to complete hardware processing and mission teams will continue to adjust the launch date based on the spacecraft's schedule of visits to the space station," the space agency said. The US said in a statement. "The current Crew-5 launch will take place after the planned Soyuz shutdown and launch from September 16 to 30."


The Falcon 9 rocket was damaged in transit from the SpaceX factory in Hawthorne, California to its test facility in McGregor, Texas. X-ray inspection as well as load and shock analysis confirmed that only part of the rocket's intermediate stage was hit and the rest of the vehicle was intact. The decision comes after Sandra Magnus, a member of NASA.

Aviation Safety Advisory Panel and a former astronaut recommended that NASA reuse SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon capsules, which carry astronauts up to five times. The Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket where the first stage, like the Dragon capsule, can be reused after repair and maintenance.

 "Because both NASA and SpaceX have experience working together and SpaceX has accumulated a history of flying the Falcon 9 booster and Dragon capsule, NASA is thinking carefully about the certification process for reuse and reusability," he told the panel. reported SpaceNews this week. "As a result, NASA knows they are comfortable with up to five reuses for the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon capsules," 



he said. For the Crew-5 mission, astronauts will board SpaceX's Dragon Endurance capsule, which was used only once for the Crew-3 mission. The capsule is placed atop a Falcon 9 rocket; his first stage booster is new. Crew-5 consists of four astronauts, including Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada of NASA.

 Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Anna Kikina of Roskosmos. The first three of the group were originally scheduled to fly to the International Space Station on a previous mission aboard the Boeing CST-100 Starliner, but the spacecraft was grounded last year due to damaged valves. Kikina is the first astronaut to fly to a floating space laboratory in a SpaceX capsule. NASA and Roscosmos recently signed an agreement to reserve seats for Russian cosmonauts on American space flights in exchange for American astronauts flying Russian Soyuz to and from the ISS.