Generally, NASA prefers sending an ongoing mission back to Earth after the next mission arrives at the International Space Station. Unfortunately, delays related to the forthcoming Crew-3 mission have lead to NASA needing to change its best laid plans.

As such, the SpaceX Crew-2 mission is set to splashdown off of the coast of Florida early on Tuesday morning. The crew of astronauts, Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Aki Hoshide and Thomas Pesquet will have spent 199 days in space upon their return.

“Endeavour will undock autonomously and perform a fly around maneuver to photograph the exterior of the International Space Station. Once the maneuver is completed, the Crew Dragon spacecraft will aim for a splashdown at one of seven targeted landing zones in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida,” NASA said in an update.

The Crew-2 mission wasn’t meant to perform a fly around as NASA wanted to make sure that the craft didn’t miss its re-entry point but since the return was delayed by a day the craft will be able to conduct a fly around.

As for Crew-3, that launch has been delayed a second time.

NASA is currently eyeing the 10th November as a possible launch date with scheduled docking with the space station set to take place on Thursday.

This launch could be delayed due to weather but we’re holding thumbs that the mission will launch following back to back delays.