SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, 4 astronauts successfully lift off to space station
Published: April 23, 2021 5:20 AM EDT
Updated: April 23, 2021 6:49 AM EDT
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Update: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew Dragon capsule lifted off successfully at 5:49 a.m. Original story below.
After a one-day delay, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is slated for a pre-dawn launch Friday to boost a Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts into orbit for a one-day trip to the International Space Station.
Liftoff from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center is targeted for 5:49 a.m. EDT Friday, setting up an automated rendezvous and docking at the space station early Saturday.
SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, 4 astronauts bound for space station By William Harwood SpaceX cleared for astronaut launch to ISS
With improving conditions expected on and off shore, SpaceX readied a Falcon 9 rocket for a pre-dawn launch Friday to boost a Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts into orbit for a one-day trip to the International Space Station.
Liftoff from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center is targeted for 5:49 a.m. EDT Friday, setting up an automated rendezvous and docking at the space station early Saturday.
The SpaceX Crew-2 flight will mark only the third launch of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil since the space shuttle s retirement 10 years ago. It is the second operational flight under NASA s Commercial Crew Program and the first to use a previously-flown first stage booster and a refurbished Crew Dragon capsule making its second flight.
How to Watch Launch of NASA s SpaceX Crew-2 Mission to the ISS gizmodo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gizmodo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and two Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station on April 9, bringing its number of residents to 10 for the coming week.
The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft carrying Vande Hei and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos docked to the stationâs Rassvet module at 6:05 a.m. Docking occurred two orbits and about three hours after a 2:42 a.m. launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Vande Hei, Novitskiy, and Dubrov would join the Expedition 64 crew when hatches open about 9 a.m. Expedition 65, with NASA astronaut Shannon Walker as commander, would begin April 16, upon the departure of NASAâs Kate Rubins, Roscosmosâ Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, and departing station commander Sergey Ryzhikov. The trio would land in Kazakhstan following a six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.