The US space agency NASA says the return to earth of Japanese astronaut Hoshide Akihiko and three other members of the SpaceX Crew-2 mission has been postponed to Monday night EST, Trend reports citing NHK.
The four astronauts were scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on Sunday afternoon and return home on Monday morning. They have been staying at the ISS since April.
NASA says it decided to change the schedule, as high winds had been forecast near the splashdown zone.
The agency says the spacecraft that will carry the crew is now scheduled to leave the ISS at 2:05 p.m. on Monday. It says the vessel will splash into waters off the US state of Florida no earlier than 10:33 p.m. on the same day.
This is the second time that the crew's return home has been postponed. The members were initially scheduled to undock from the ISS earlier this month. But the launch of another spacecraft that will bring the new crew to the station was pushed back.
This is Hoshide's third mission in space. He has been away from Earth for about 200 days. He conducted his fourth spacewalk during this visit. Hoshide is the second Japanese person to serve as the commander of the ISS.
