Departure of Ax-3 private astronaut mission deferred due to poor weather

The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft carrying the four-member Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) crew will now undock from the International Space Station no earlier than Monday, February 5. The undocking was rescheduled due to weather conditions off the coast of Florida, NASA said on Saturday.

Ax-3, the third all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 18. The four private astronauts, Michael López-Alegría, Walter Villadei, Marcus Wandt, and Alper Gezeravci, were set to leave on February 3 after spending about two weeks at the space station.

The spacecraft will return to Earth with more than 550 pounds of cargo, including NASA hardware and data from more than 30 different experiments the crew conducted during their mission.

Update: Due to weather conditions off the coast of Florida, teams are targeting no earlier than Monday, Feb. 5, for the undocking of Axiom Mission 3 from the @Space_Station. https://t.co/tAP8j3mvU3

— NASA (@NASA) February 3, 2024

NASA will provide live coverage of the undocking and departure of the Axiom Mission 3 private astronaut flight from the International Space Station on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency's website.

Update 1

Following the latest review of weather conditions, NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 9:05 a.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 6, for the undocking of Axiom Mission 3 from the space station.