With the successful launch of the NASA astronaut group dubbed Crew-9 on Sept. 28, it was time for the four members of Crew-8 to come home. That is until Hurricane Milton hit the Florida peninsula with 19 confirmed tornadoes and sustained wind speeds of 120 mph. With Crew-8 set to splash down off of the coast of Florida, NASA decided to delay their return until Oct. 13 at the earliest.
Crew-8 consists of three NASA astronauts, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and one Roscosmos cosmonaut, Alexander Grebenkin.
"NASA and SpaceX are now targeting no earlier than 3:05 a.m. EDT Sunday, Oct. 13, for the undocking of the Crew-8 mission from the International Space Station due to weather conditions and potential impacts from Hurricane Milton across the Florida peninsula," NASA wrote in a blog post. "Mission managers continue to monitor conditions, with the next weather briefing planned for 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 11."
Crew-8 was initially scheduled to return on Oct. 7. Weather conditions ahead of Hurricane Milton sparked a delay until Oct. 10. That delay was extended another three days due to Milton making landfall. The four crew members have been on the ISS since March 2024 and have spent their time there conducting various scientific experiments to prepare humans for exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
The delays did allow Crew-8 commander Matthew Dominick to snap some insane pictures of the aurora borealis along with some pictures of Hurricane Milton from the ISS over the last few days, producing impressive images of the Earth from low orbit.
Crew-8 had to modify their capsule twice before their return
Once the delay lifts, Crew-8 will return in the same capsule that brought them to the ISS. However, both the Crew-8 and Crew-9 Dragon capsules had to be modified a couple of times before the return. The reason is because of Boeing's Starliner. NASA launched the Starliner successfully and docked with the ISS back in June. It was the Starliner's first successful crewed mission. Afterward, the Starliner had some technical difficulties and had to be sent back to Earth without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
In the absence of Starliner, Crew-8 modified its capsule to include two additional seats in case the astronauts had to depart the ISS in an emergency. SpaceX and NASA launched Crew-9 with two fewer astronauts so that they could bring the Starliner crew home in early 2025. Once Crew-9 arrived at the ISS, Williams and Wilmore integrated with the Crew-9 spacecraft in anticipation of their return home.
With the integration completed, Crew-8 dismantled the additional seats in their capsule and should be set to come home once the weather clears.