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SpaceX delayed its second astronaut flight by one day due to high winds and weather conditions that could jeopardize the booster rocket’s recovery and recycling, delaying the launch until Monday.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives at the United States District Court in Los Angeles. Source: Associated Press
Today’s postponement news came after SpaceX chief Elon Musk revealed that he had obtained mixed test results for Covid-19 and was awaiting the result of a more definitive test.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said that anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 should self-quarantine per NASA policy and remain in isolation. Officials said SpaceX’s contact tracing did not find any link between Musk and personnel in close contact with the four astronauts, who remain cleared for the flight.
“I can assure everyone that we look good for the launch (from the crew) and all the critical personnel involved,” said Benji Reed, senior director of manned space flight at SpaceX.
It was not immediately known whether Musk would be allowed at the Kennedy Space Center launch site, even if subsequent tests came back negative.
Norm Knight, deputy director of NASA, said the guidelines are rigid to restrict access to astronauts before the flight to keep them safe and healthy.
“No one is above this access. It doesn’t matter if you’re Elon Musk or Jim Bridenstine, ”Knight said at a news conference. “If you have not complied with those protocols, or if any of those protocols have been compromised, we will not allow you to approach the crew.”
Musk said via Twitter that he tested positive for coronavirus, then negative twice, and then positive again. He said he was not feeling very well for the past few days (colds, cough, low fever), but currently had no symptoms.
“So ‘Elon Musk tests negative for Covid’ is an equally correct title,” he tweeted.
Musk said his first tests were rapid tests and he was awaiting lab test results. Rapid 15-minute tests are less sensitive than lab tests, which take hours longer to process.
Representatives for NASA and SpaceX did not say where Musk was today, although officials confirmed he was not at Kennedy. His company is based in Southern California, where he lives. He was inside Kennedy Launch Control last May for SpaceX’s first astronaut flight last May.
Four astronauts, three Americans and one Japanese, are scheduled to head to the International Space Station on Monday night (NZT).
One of the test pilots for the first SpaceX astronaut flight, Doug Hurley, said he is confident that Musk will participate in the launch, regardless of where he is.
A mockup of the SpaceX crew capsule is seen on display in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building during a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Source: Associated Press
“Knowing Elon as I know him, they will find a way for him to be very connected,” Hurley told The Associated Press from Houston.
The next crew flight comes just three months after the end of the test flight with Hurley and Bob Behnken, both NASA astronauts. The four astronauts go up for a full stay on the space station of five to six months. They will be replaced in the spring by another team launched by SpaceX.
The latest launch was made one day to give SpaceX’s reinforced landing pad enough time to position itself in the Atlantic, given rough seas in the wake of Tropical Storm Eta. NASA and SpaceX are especially eager to get this first-stage booster back; it will be used for the next crew launch.
NASA handed over the space station ferry trips to SpaceX and Boeing, which no one has yet launched, following the retirement of the shuttle fleet in 2011. The space agency is looking to save big by not having to buy seats in Soyuz capsules Russian for US astronauts. The latest ticket, used by a NASA astronaut launched from Kazakhstan in October, cost $ 90 million.
Meanwhile, one more launch pad, an Atlas V rocket thundered into the sunset today with a spy satellite classified for the National Reconnaissance Office. The launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station had been repeatedly delayed by platform and weather problems.
