CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.– NASA officials stated today that the SpaceXs Halloween astronaut launch for the company will not be affected by a massive solar flare thats arranged to reach Earth this weekend. The launch is set to launch at 2:21 a.m. EDT (0621 GMT) on Sunday (Oct. 31), and you can see the launch and prelaunch action live at Space.com. As part of the mission, four astronauts– NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron together with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer– will strap into a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and blast off on a six-month objective to the International Space Station (ISS). Firm authorities, in addition to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, discussed the upcoming flight with reporters on Friday (Oct. 29), saying that the objective was on track to release early Sunday morning. When inquired about how a massive solar flare will impact the objective, Kathy Lueders, associate administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said that it would not affect the launch at all. Video: Powerful solar x-flare blasts coronal mass ejection towards EarthLive Updates: SpaceXs Crew-3 astronaut mission An X1-class solar flare erupts from an Earth-facing sunspot on the sun on Oct. 28, 2021 in this image from NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory. (Image credit: NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science groups) On Thursday (Oct. 28), an effective X1-class solar flare erupted from the sun, sending out an enormous cloud of charged particles speeding towards Earth. That cloud ought to get here over Halloween weekend, knocking into the Earths environment. Its anticipated to magnify the regular northern lights triggered by the suns solar wind. Thankfully for NASA, it doesnt pose a danger to the launch; the main cause for issue is weather along the abort passage. Forecasters at the 45th Space Delta continue to predict favorable conditions here at the launch website; however, its a different story downrange. SpaceX and NASA need to keep an eye on weather condition in several areas in case something fails throughout the crew and the flight needs to abort. Agency and weather condition officials state they will continue to monitor the weather in the meantime, but are still on track for a morning liftoff on Halloween. Follow Amy Thompson on Twitter @astrogingersnap. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook..
