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NASA is poised for its first commercial operational crew mission with SpaceX and will celebrate by broadcasting numerous launch events, dubbed Crew-1. Here’s how you can tune in.
Crew-1 will transport four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), one more than the standard three-person crew of a Russian Soyuz. The participating crew-1 astronauts are Crew Dragon Commander Michael Hopkins (NASA), pilot Victor Glover (NASA), mission specialist Shannon Walker (NASA) and mission specialist Soichi Noguchi (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).
Once at the space station, the four NASA astronauts will join the current Expedition 64 crew NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and two Roscosmos cosmonauts, Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, bringing the crew of the orbiting laboratory to seven people.
Real-time updates: SpaceX Crew-1 astronaut launch for NASA
Crew-1 follows from the shortest, most successful Demo-2 mission launched in May on the space station with two NASA astronauts, proving that a SpaceX Crew Dragon could safely transport people into space. NASA plans to shift most of its astronaut launches from Soyuz vehicles to SpaceX and Boeing commercial crew vehicles to allow larger crews on the station and launches from Florida.
Takeoff for Crew-1 is scheduled for 7:49 PM EST on Saturday (November 14) (0049 GMT Sunday, November 15) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If all goes to plan, docking will take place relatively quickly about nine hours after launch, at 4:20 am EST (0920 GMT) on Sunday. Both events will be broadcast live on NASA television and here on Space.com.
There are also many other events being broadcast on NASA TV in the coming week. All times of these events are approximate and may change if the launch date or other major events, such as docking, moving.
Tuesday, Nov. 10): 3:30 pm EST (1930 GMT).
NASA will hold a multimedia conference call to review audio-only on-the-fly availability Kennedy Space Center. The event will be held in 15:30 EST (1930 GMT). The expected participants are:
- Kathy Lueders, associate administrator of NASA’s mission direction for human exploration and operations
- Steve Stich, NASA manager of the Commercial Crew program
- Joel Montalbano, NASA manager of the International Space Station
- Norm Knight, NASA Deputy Director of Flight Operations Directorate
- Benji Reed, senior director of SpaceX human space flight programs
- Junichi Sakai, program manager of the JAXA International Space Station
- A representative of the Federal Aviation Administration, to be announced at a later date.
Thursday 12 November: time to be defined
NASA will hold a preliminary press conference at Kennedy Space Center at a time to be determined, but not earlier than one hour after the launch preparation review is completed. The expected participants are:
- Steve Stich, NASA manager of the Commercial Crew program
- Joel Montalbano, NASA manager of the International Space Station
- Kirt Costello, NASA’s chief scientist on the International Space Station program
- Norm Knight, NASA Deputy Director of Flight Operations Directorate
- Benji Reed, senior director of SpaceX’s human space flight programs
- Arlena Moses, launch meteorological officer for the 45th US Air Force Meteorological Squadron
Friday, November 13: 10:00 EST (1500 GMT)
At 10am EST (1500 GMT), NASA will hold a briefing to count down the facility launch with the following attendees expected:
- Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator
- Bob Cabana, director of the Kennedy Space Center
- Hiroshi Sasaki, vice president of JAXA and general manager of the human space flight technology directorate
- A representative of NASA astronauts, to be announced at a later date
Saturday, November 14: 3:30 PM EST (1930 GMT)
TO 15:30 EST (2030 GMT), approximately four hours before takeoff, NASA TV will begin coverage of launch preparations and offer ongoing coverage during the flight and arrival celebrations on Saturday and Sunday. The launch is scheduled for 7:49 PM EST (0049 GMT Sunday, Nov 15).
Sunday November 15: 4:20 am EST (2120 GMT)
Assuming the launch goes as planned, keep an eye out for the following events during NASA television coverage. All event times are approximate.
4:20 am EST (0920 GMT) – Docking
7 am EST (1200 GMT) – Welcome ceremony from the International Space Station
7:20 am EST (1220 GMT) – Post-docking press conference from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston with the following attendees:
- Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator
- Kathy Lueders, NASA Associate Administrator of Mission Directorate for Human Exploration and Operations
- Hiroshi Sasaki, vice president of JAXA and general manager of the human space flight technology directorate
- Mark Geyer, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center
- Steve Stich, NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager
- Joel Montalbano, NASA manager of the International Space Station
- A SpaceX representative to be announced at a later date
Monday, November 16: time to be defined
NASA will hold a press conference with NASA astronauts Kate Rubins, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi who they will call from the International Space Station at a time to be announced later.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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