The SpaceX tested the Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday afternoon at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, clearing the main obstacle en route to the International Space Station before a team of four people – before the weather permit – began Saturday night.
The 215-foot-tall (65-meter) rock ignited its 9 Merlin 1D main engine at 3:49 p.m. EST (2049 GMT) Wednesday, and throttle to full power for several seconds. Hold-down clamps kept the projection firmly on the ground as the engine was operated to generate 1.7 million pounds of thrust.
Exhaust fumes came out of the flames at Pad 39A, and the Falcon 9A A low disturbance could be heard for miles around as the flight completed the northeast firing before the scheduled launch at 7:49 p.m. on Saturday. ) With three NASA astronauts and a Japanese space flyer bound for the space station.
Following SpaceX’s successful piloted crew dragon test flight earlier this year, it will be Mission SpaceX’s first operational crew rotation flight using the Falcon 9 rocket and crew dragon capsule.
The steady fire test on Wednesday was a custom rehearsal before SpaceX does most of its missions. Located inside the launch control center firing room near Kennedy’s iconic vehicle assembly building, the SpaceX launch team conducted an automated countdown that loaded kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into a brand new two-stage rocket three miles away on the Pad 39A.
After firing the engine, the launch team fired propellants rockets and got ready for the next activity – a “dry dress rehearsal” on Thursday, which will feature NASA Commander Mike Hopkins, pilot Victor Glover, mission expert Shannon Waker and his Japanese astronaut Sochi. And on Pad 39A their crew will fly on the Dragon “Resilience” capsule.
Hoskins and his cremates will use a projection from the suit-up to the Pad 39A pad in NASA’s crew quarters inside two Tesla Model Dell Xomomobiles. Once on the padded, the astronauts will ride on the elevator and walk over the crew access arm above the service structure, where SpaceX’s closeout crew will assist them in the spaceship.
Dress rehearsals on Thursday will not involve the Falcon 9 rocket being filled with propellant.
SpaceX and NASA officials plan to call a launch readiness review on Friday to assess the state of preparations for the opportunity to launch on Saturday night. They will also discuss the weather forecast.
In a tweet confirming the successful result of the static fire test on Wednesday afternoon, SpaceX said officials are monitoring the weather conditions for the lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center and the flight path of the rocket over the Atlantic Ocean.
Mission managers will track wind, wave conditions, lightning and rain at more than 50 locations in the Atlantic Ocean, east of the Canadian Maritime Province and west of Ireland. The Crew Dragon Capsule launch can leave and splash in those areas in case of failure.
The first official weather forecast for the Falcon 9 launch opportunity on Saturday night shows a 60% probability of favorable conditions for a lift lift on the Florida spaceport. According to the 45th Weather Squadron of the US Space Force, the primary concern of the weather is with cumulus clouds.
The forecast does not take into account wind and wave conditions with the crew dragon spacecraft’s ascending corridor in the Atlantic and the upper level wind criteria for climbing into the Falcon 9’s atmosphere.
The opportunity to launch B Backup Cup is available on EST Sunday at 7:27 PM (0027 GMT Monday).
Once launched, Crew Dragon will fly an automated rendered profile to connect to the space station, delivering Hopkins, Glover, Wal Wal Kar and Noguchi to the orbit for a six-month mission. They will be joined by three other crew members currently working and working in the space.
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