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After a successful first test flight with two astronauts, Crew Dragon’s first official manned mission is ready to leave for the International Space Station (ISS) in another phase that marks the beginning of a new regular era flights with crew from North American territory. Everything was ready for launch yesterday, at 19:49 local (corresponding to 00:49 in mainland Portugal), but again on Friday NASA warned that strong winds would force the mission to postpone the departure.
The rescheduling has been done, for the next launch window, and everything is now being prepared for the departure of the crew-1 at 19:27 from Cape Canaveral, at 00:27 in Lisbon. For now, forecasts remain positive, with a 50% probability of success.
The Crew Dragon capsule, developed by SpaceX for scheduled flights, will be manned by three NASA astronauts, the Americans Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and the Japanese Soichi Noguchi of JAXA. The mission is expected to last six months.
The Falcon 9 will ride the Crew Dragon and the first stage booster should be reused for the ship’s next mission, Crew-2, which has already been chosen and will have two women as pilots.
The carrier’s arrival at the ISS is expected to take place just over eight hours later.
As usual, NASA will follow it all live with a broadcast that follows the entire preparation for the launch and the journey of the astronauts, until they are installed on the Space Station.
View the Crew-1 mission preparation images
What will be SpaceX’s first manned mission to NASA was initially scheduled for October 31, but was ultimately delayed by the need to assess the abnormal behavior a Falcon 9 rocket exhibited during a private flight.
According to Benji Reed, SpaceX company’s manned flight manager, the carrier plans to launch seven missions to transport people and cargo over the next 15 months.
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