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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – SpaceX has just launched the rocket that will transport its next crew of astronauts to the International Space Station this weekend.
The private spaceflight company conducted a static fire test of its Falcon 9 rocket at Pad 39A here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday (Nov.11). The test is one of the latest milestones ahead of the launch scheduled for Saturday (November 14).
The routine preliminary test kicked off the countdown to the highly anticipated flight of the company’s first operational mission of its Dragon crew capsule, called Crew-1. The spacecraft is bound for the International Space Station, taking three NASA astronauts and a Japanese spaceflight with it.
The test, originally scheduled for Tuesday evening (Nov.10), was postponed for 24 hours so that SpaceX could test and replace a purge valve in the rocket’s second stage.
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On Wednesday afternoon, the Falcon 9 rocket roared to life as smoke rose from its engines during the preflight test. The short ignition, known as the static fire test, is a standard part of pre-launch procedures and one of the last major milestones before takeoff.
During the test, the Falcon 9 is held down on the pad while its nine first stage motors are briefly turned on. This allows crews to ensure that all systems are working properly and that the rocket is ready to fly. Shortly after the test, SpaceX tweeted that the static fire test was a success and that the company plans to launch on Saturday at 7:49 PM EST (0049 GMT on Sunday, November 15).
The flight marks SpaceX’s 21st mission of the year and the first long-duration mission to be launched from Florida. The first stage of the rocket is expected to land again at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station approximately 9 minutes after takeoff. If all goes to plan, the crew capsule will only take 8.5 hours to track the space station before arriving at the orbital outpost early Sunday (November 15).
Both the Dragon capsule and its launcher are brand new for this mission. Following the success of the Demo-2 mission, which launched two NASA astronauts on the space station in May for a two-month stay, NASA has granted SpaceX permission to reuse both the crew capsule and rocket in future missions. . In fact, the Crew-2 mission that launches next year will reuse the Demo-2 Dragon capsule and the Crew-1 mission booster.
In keeping with the precedent set by the Demo-2 mission, the sleek exterior of the rocket’s first stage was adorned with NASA’s iconic worm logo.
With the Dragon capsule perched atop the rocket, the duo exited the hangar and reached the launch pad at Complex 39A on Monday evening (November 9). Standing at 256.3 feet (78.1 meters) tall, the pair were lifted to an upright position overnight.
Related: SpaceX Crew Dragon Space Capsule Explained (Infographic)
Attached to the launch pad, the teams loaded the rocket with super-cooled propellants – kerosene and liquid oxygen – and then briefly fired the nine first-stage Merlin 1D engines.
The engines started briefly at 3:52 PM EST (2052 GMT), generating 1.7 million pounds of thrust while the booster remained firmly on the ground. Engineers looked at the data before deciding to proceed with the planned Falcon 9 launch attempt on Saturday night.
“Falcon 9 static fire completed – aiming Saturday November 14 at 7:49 PM EST for the launch of Crew Dragon’s first operational mission to the space station with four astronauts aboard,” SpaceX tweeted shortly after the test.
The company also said the teams will continue to monitor weather conditions for take-off and along the pre-launch flight path.
Falcon 9 static fire completed – aimed Saturday November 14th at 7:49 pm EST for the launch of Crew Dragon’s first operational mission on @space_station with four astronauts aboard. The teams will continue to monitor weather conditions for take-off and along the flight pathNovember 11, 2020
The static fire test comes in the wake of a hardware swap. Originally scheduled for October 31, Crew-1 flight has been delayed by two weeks to allow SpaceX to replace one of the booster’s nine Merlin 1D engines in its first stage.
Last month, SpaceX attempted to launch an updated GPS satellite when it noticed an engine glitch. The rocket’s onboard computer triggered an abortion and the mission was postponed indefinitely as teams worked to fix the problem.
A thorough investigation revealed that leftover masking lacquer from the manufacturing process prevented the motors from running as intended. SpaceX switched two engines on that rocket and the GPS mission was able to take off on November 5th.
SpaceX also took the time to examine two more boosters and determined that the same traces of lacquer were found in the engines on two other first stages of the Falcon 9: one on the rocket that will launch the Earth observation satellite Sentinel-6 and one on the crew -1 booster. SpaceX then replaced the affected engines.
With a successful static fire test now under the belt, the rocket is ready to fly. After launching on Saturday night, SpaceX plans to land its first booster stage on one of its two massive drone ships, “Just Read the Instructions,” which is stationed in the Atlantic. If successful, this will mark the 65th recall recovery.
Follow Amy Thompson on Twitter @astrogingersnap. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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