NASA-SpaceX's Crew-6 mission to fly on Thursday

NEW DELHI: NASA and SpaceX crew-6 mission is now scheduled to blast off to the International Space Station on March 2, said the space agencies on Monday, after the mission was scrubbed due to a ground systems issue.

A few minutes before the slated liftoff on Monday, the mission teams decided to stand down following an issue with the ignition system. They looked to investigate an issue preventing data from confirming a full load of the ignition source for the Falcon 9 first stage Merlin engines, triethylaluminum triethylboron (or TEA-TEB).

"I'm proud of the NASA and SpaceX teams' focus and dedication to keeping Crew-6 safe," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, in a statement.

"Human spaceflight is an inherently risky endeavour and, as always, we will fly when we are ready."

SpaceX has removed propellant from the Falcon 9 rocket and the astronauts have exited the Dragon spacecraft for astronaut crew quarters. Both the Falcon 9 and Dragon are in a safe configuration, NASA said.

Due to unfavourable weather forecast conditions, NASA and SpaceX had to forgo a launch opportunity on Tuesday.

If the technical issue gets resolved, the mission will lift off at 12:34 a.m. EST on Thursday, March 2, the US space agency said.

The crew-6 mission includes NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, commander; Warren "Woody" Hoburg, pilot; and mission specialists UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.

The team aims to perform more than 200 science, technology demonstrations, and maintenance activities aboard the microgravity laboratory.