SpaceX delays Crew-8 astronaut launch for NASA to Feb. 28 to make way for private moon mission

SpaceX Crew-8 crew. From left to right: Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps.

NASA's next astronaut launch will delay nearly a week to let a moon mission leave Earth first.

NASA's Crew-8 astronauts, who will launch on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, will fly to space no earlier than Feb. 28. The delay from Feb. 22 will make room for the expected launch of Intuitive Machines' moon lander from the same launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The window for that moon mission, known as IM-1, opens Wednesday (Feb. 14).