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NASA and SpaceX are targeting the launch of four astronauts to the International Space Station this Saturday, in what should be the first of many regular crew flights into space from US soil. Here’s what you need to know about this historic mission and how you can watch it.
The era of NASA’s commercial crew, after nine long years, is finally upon us.
Not since the withdrawal of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 has the US been able to launch astronauts independently without the help of external partners, namely Russia. The Demo-2 mission earlier this year, in which NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley were delivered into orbit aboard a SpaceX CrewDragon spacecraft, was exactly that: a demonstration. The upcoming launch is the real deal and the start of regular crew flights to the ISS from America.
The launch of Resilience, like this particular CrewDragon is named, is scheduled for November 15 at 11:49 AEDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. You can watch it live right here, congratulations on the official NASA stream.
If the launch is to be postponed, NASA and SpaceX will try again on November 16 at 11:27 AEDT. The US Air Force currently predicts a 70% chance of favorable weather on Saturday. The accumulations and precipitation caused by tropical storm Eta are the main concerns.
Earlier this week, NASA and SpaceX completed certification of the CrewDragon-Falcon 9 combo, which is now the first human-classified commercial space system in U.S. history. And yesterday, mission planners successfully completed a static fire test of the Falcon 9, in which the rocket’s nine Merlin first stage engines were fired for seven seconds, so it looks like we’re ready to rock. The Falcon 9 first stage rocket will attempt to land on the drone ship Just read the instructions, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Almost ready to light this candle: the Falcon 9 on the launch pad, November 14, 2020 (Image: NASA / Joel Kowsky)
The Dragon crew – NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi – will arrive on the ISS approximately 11 hours after launch, where they will join Expedition 64 crew members Kate Rubins , Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud -Sverchkov.
At seven crew members, the ISS will be at its peak in terms of employment, according to the Planetary Society. They’ll need to get comfortable and get along – Expedition 64 is expected to last six months (suddenly wondering if deodorant is allowed in space).
They have a mountain of scientific and technical work ahead of them. In addition to providing new scientific hardware to the orbital outpost, the crew will investigate ways to improve diets in space, investigate astronauts’ brain and heart function, grow some radishes, and work with biomining microbes (as part of an experiment in course we covered earlier this week), among other science projects. They will also try the components destined for the upcoming Artemis Moon suit, called xEMU.
We cross our fingers that all is well and that this crew of seven will not be hampered by ongoing problems with the ISS, whether it be air leaks, broken toilets or malfunctioning ovens. It could be six months long.
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