NASA has delayed the return of Crew-8 from the International Space Station and the launch of Europa Clipper this week due to Hurricane Milton.
The hurricane, currently making its way through the Gulf of Mexico, is projected to make landfall Thursday off the Florida coast near Tampa.
Both the Europa Clipper launch and Crew-8 departure were previously scheduled to occur on Thursday. The Crew-8 departure has been pushed back to at least Oct. 13 while Europa Clipper doesn't have a rescheduled launch date.
However, the Europa Clipper launch period opens Thursday and lasts until Nov. 6, giving NASA plenty of options for when to launch the spacecraft.
WHERE IS IT? Follow the path of Hurricane Milton
"The safety of launch team personnel is our highest priority, and all precautions will be taken to protect the Europa Clipper spacecraft," said Tim Dunn, senior launch director at NASA's Launch Services Program, in a statement.
The Europa Clipper mission will launch its solar-powered spacecraft into space toward Jupiter, which it is scheduled to reach in 2030. But its focus will be on the planet's moon Europa with the main goal of figuring out whether life can survive on the moon.
Europa is the fourth-largest moon of Jupiter, and there is evidence it might have a saltwater ocean.
The spacecraft, which is also called Europa Clipper and is about the length of a basketball court, is currently secure in a hangar on the Kennedy Space Center center campus on the east coast of Florida.
NASA says "high winds and heavy rain" are expected this week due to the hurricane.
THE MARCH LAUNCH: NASA and SpaceX launch Crew-8 to the International Space Station
SpaceX Crew-8 launched to the space station in early March. The mission crew features NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.
NASA said the next weather briefing for the Crew-8 return will take place Oct. 11.
Hurricane Milton will hit about two weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall near Perry, Florida, and continued up into Georgia and the Carolinas, causing significant damage along the way.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has issued more than $210 million in federal support to Helene survivors as of Monday, the agency announced.
AccuWeather estimates the total damage of the hurricane to be between $225 and $250 billion.
The National Hurricane Center's most recent update on Hurricane Milton says "devastating hurricane-force winds" are expected along Florida's west coast while also bringing the "risk of life-threatening flash and urban flooding."