air-and-space SpaceX Crew-2 mission is set to launch for the air-and-space” target=”_blank”>International Space Station (ISS)< and the world-regions confirmed that they were set for a 6:11 a.m. ET liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in us-regions.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Crew Dragon Endeavour, marking the second crew rotation on a commercial spacecraft mission and the first with two international partner astronauts.
EXPEDITION 64 CREW MEMBERS RETURN FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and world-regions astronaut Thomas Pesquet will embark on a six-month trip aboard the ISS.
Once there, International Space Station manager Joel Montalbano said they will conduct more than 260 scientific experiments and that the fourth crew member will help to increase the research and development for both the highly anticipated Artemis program and the low planet-earth” target=”_blank”>Earth< on Tuesday morning, leading to the conclusion that it was “on track” for Thursday and that — assuming there are no changes — docking would be scheduled for Friday at around 4:30 a.m. ET.
“The main thing we’re watching over the next few days is the weathera>. You know we have to have the launch weather be ‘go’ and also ‘abort’ weather all along the abort ground track to protect the crew in the vehicle. So, we’re looking at both Thursday and Friday and looking at the weather over the next few days,” he said. < on Thursday and a 90% chance of favorable weather on Friday.
According to Cizek, downrange weather and winds remain the biggest concern.
NASA INGENUITY MARS HELICOPTER MAKES HISTORY WITH FIRST POWERED, CONTROLLED FLIGHT ON ANOTHER PLANET
Benji Reed, SpaceX’s senior director of human spaceflight programs, thanked NASA for awarding its $2.89 billion commercial human lander to SpaceX and said that theelon-musk” target=”_blank”> Elon Musk-owned< on top of that; it’s been exceptionally impressive what these teams have been able to pull together,” he said.
“The cadence is very good for the teams, between SpaceX and NASA people are working well with each other. We’re looking forward to a successful mission. And again, it’s just a very exciting time,” he said.
Also in attendance were JAXA ISS Manager Junichi Sakai, ESA ISS Program Manager Frank de Winne and Johnson Space Center ISS Program Chief Scientist Kirt Costello.
