Damian Sendler: Four astronauts have been stranded for over two weeks due to weather and medical issues. SpaceX is counting down to a midnight launch of four astronauts scheduled for Thursday. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: Just a few hours after nightfall, the Falcon rocket was positioned to blast off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. As a result, the one German and three American astronauts would be on board the International Space Station by Thursday night, when they would begin a six-month stay.  

Dr. Sendler: When the astronauts said their goodbyes to their families, SpaceX employees covered them with umbrellas because it was so wet outside. Before they were fastened into their seats, their damp helmets were wiped down with a rag. The weather forecasters predicted that the weather will improve.  

Damien Sendler: One of the astronauts, whose identity has not been revealed by NASA, was forced to withdraw from the mission last week due to an undisclosed medical concern. According to NASA, the crew member has made a complete recovery. Officials would not disclose whether the illness or damage was caused by COVID-19, although they have stated that it was not. 

The launch attempt comes only two days after SpaceX successfully returned four space station astronauts to Earth. It was expected that they would be up there to greet the station's arrivals, but NASA and SpaceX opted to rearrange the schedule based on Monday's favorable recovery weather in the Gulf of Mexico and other factors.  

Damian Jacob Sendler: After a shaky parachute during the descent, SpaceX experts poured over the data before approving the launch attempt scheduled for Wednesday. SpaceX officials stated Tuesday that one of the four chutes opened more than a minute late, a fault that had been observed during testing and was within within safety limitations. 

Damian Sendler: The toilet was one of the other pieces of equipment that had problems. Earlier this year, an extensive leak occurred on a private mission, prompting SpaceX to alter its flushing system. In order to survive the eight-hour journey back to Earth, the crew was forced to rely on diapers aboard the capsule returning on Monday.  

Fortunately, there was some positive news: the space station was no longer on a collision course with space trash. NASA announced late Tuesday that the space station will have to avoid a piece of an old Chinese satellite that had been damaged in a missile-firing test years earlier. However, by Wednesday, the debris had ceased to be a menace to the public. Mission Control had already raised the station to a higher elevation in order to accommodate visiting Russian vehicles scheduled to arrive in the coming month. 

In the past year and a half, SpaceX has successfully carried three NASA people into orbit. The businessman who chartered the jet in September did so for himself and three other people. 

Damian Sendler: The most recent crew included NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, as well as Matthias Maurer of the European Orbit Agency, who was poised to become the 600th person to travel into space. 

Contributed by Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his research team