SpaceX, NASA set for historic historic Crew-1 launch today: everything to know

Despite one Worldwide epidemic, A record Hurricane season And the problematic rocket engine that needs to be replaced, NASA and SpaceX are committed to landing off the historic Crew-1 mission off Florida on Sunday. At 1:30 p.m., four astronauts were heading to the ISS to launch the 39 Pad. Their flight in a crew dragon capsule over a Falcon 9 rocket Demo-2 mission success And Its historic historical splashdown And will set a few key spaceflight landmarks.

Here are the answers to most of your questions about this mission.

Wait, what about the engines?

The targeted launch date for Crew-1 was postponed to the end of October, after NASA and SpaceX noted some unpredictable behavior from some Falcon 9 engines that were to be used for an unrelated mission. Launch a military GPS satellite. He had only two seconds left on the mission countdown and one The investigation has since come out A bit of lacquer filled the little relief valve line. The tail caused the rocket’s two engines to try and catch fire as soon as possible, causing the liftoff to shut down automatically, potentially damaging the engines.

SpaceX discovered that the rocket engine used for Crew-1 had “similar tendencies”. The launch date was moved to November, the engines were swapped and now both NASA and SpaceX are satisfied that time is running out.

Okay, so why is Crew-1 a big deal?

Crew-1 is part of the culmination of NASA’s commercial crew program that has been in operation for years. For decades, NASA has developed its own rockets and spacecraft internally, usually with the help of contractors, but the commercial crew program works to charter flights. Companies like SpaceX and Boeing have vehicles designed for use by other customers, and NASA can stop riding on them.

Bringing spaceflight back to U.S. soil is also a huge step. Since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011 Demo-2 mission that sent two NASA astronauts to the ISS aboard a crew dragon earlier this year, NASA has relied on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to turn its astronauts into orbit.

Demo-2 was considered a successful demonstration of the Crew Dragon and NASA sees Crew-1 as the first official crew rotation mission off the U.S. coast since the shuttle’s retirement.

“This is exciting, especially since Crew-1 is the first time we’ve ever put four people on a space capsule, like humans, that’s pretty cool,” said NASA’s Antony Vareha, the mission’s chief flight director. “It’s also the crew’s longest mission to the U.S. capsule ever.”

Who are the astronauts flying in the crew dragon?

The historic flight will be accompanied by NASA Crew Dragon Commander Michael Hopkins, Pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialist Shannon Walker, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JXA) Mission Specialist Sochi Noguchi.

Until now, the Soyuz capsule had three people in a stretch ride, but the crew could accommodate up to seven dragons (for comparison, the space shuttle flew up to eight crew), making the journey of these four astronauts seem relatively spacious.

How long is the journey?

Crew-1 members are embarking on a six-month science mission, which is exciting for those involved in the orbit and space science world as four crew members are available for more hands on station to do more experiments in microgravity. .

“It will be exciting to be able to see how much work we can do while we’re there,” Hopkins said Monday.

But first, of course, astronauts have to go there. The actual journey of the ISS takes about eight and a half hours to docking with the station from early Saturday evening to early Sunday morning.

How can I see?

From here. NASA and SpaceX will stream the launch, Currently launched at the Kennedy Space Center from Complex 39A to PT (late Saturday, due to weather), set for Sunday, November 15 at 4:27 p.m.

NASA TV will launch and broadcast King King, and we’re also taking a livestream, which you can catch below.