KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Having been scrubbed Sunday due to inclement weather, SpaceX's Crew-3 mission was dealt another delay Monday when NASA reported one of the astronauts was dealing with "a minor medical issue."

"The issue is not a medical emergency and not related to COVID-19," a NASA statement said. 


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NASA did not say what the medical issue was and did not identify the astronaut suffering from it. 

After being canceled on Halloween, the launch to the International Space Station was rescheduled for Wednesday, but will now take place this weekend, at the earliest.

"Teams will continue to monitor crew health as they evaluate potential launch opportunities at the end of the week," the NASA statement said, noting that the earliest opportunity for the launch to take place would be 11:36 p.m. Saturday.

Crew-3 mission members — mission commander Raja Chari, pilot Tom Marshburn, mission specialist Kayla Barron and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer — will remain under quarantine at NASA's Kennedy Space Center as plans for the launch are put in place.

While there, NASA officials said the astronauts will be treated to make sure they remain ready for the upcoming launch.

"The agency takes every effort to protect the crew prior to its launch through a health stabilization plan," NASA's statement said.

Once in orbit, the Crew-3 astronauts will spend about six months aboard the ISS, conducting scientific research in areas like health technologies, materials science and plant science, which are all designed to prepare for human exploration, NASA officials said in a release, adding that the research will also have benefits to life on Earth.

The Crew-3 is the fourth joint NASA-SpaceX mission to send astronauts to the ISS. The first one, Demo-2, was historic because it was the first time in nearly a decade astronauts lifted off from U.S. soil.

The Demo-2 launched happened in May 2020.

The second one was the Crew-1 launch in November 2020.

And earlier this year, the third mission Crew-2 took place in April.

When Crew-3 astronauts board the ISS, they will not be the only Crew members there.

Crew-2 NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Aki Hoshide and European Space Agency's Thomas Pesquet are currently occupying the station.

The Crew-2 astronauts are planning a return trip back home on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule in early November.

"Mission teams are reviewing options including both direct and indirect handovers for the upcoming crew rotation at the microgravity laboratory," NASA said in its Monday statement. "Teams will review all options for safely launching and returning crew members and continue the agency’s important work on the International Space Station."