Crew-3, made up of ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron, was initially scheduled to be launched on 31 October 2021. This was delayed to 3 November due to weather, before being further delayed due to a minor medical issue with a crew member.

Mission teams have now decided to return Crew-2 from the Space Station before launching Crew-3, due to weather considerations for both launch and recovery operations. Crew-2 includes ESA astronaut and current International Space Station commander Thomas Pesquet, alongside NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur and Japanese Aerospace Agency JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.

The launch of Crew-3 will mark the beginning of ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer's six-month Cosmic Kiss mission. Tune in to ESA Web TV channel two for live coverage of the crew-3 launch and Crew-2 landing.