NASA and SpaceX on Monday completed the last major review ahead of this week's pivotal launch of astronauts from Kennedy Space Center, giving the "go" for teams to proceed.
From now until launch at 4:33 p.m. Wednesday, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are cleared to move forward with final briefings and preparations before lifting off from pad 39A in a Crew Dragon capsule. A Falcon 9 rocket will vault the duo on a 19-hour journey to the International Space Station.
"All the teams are 'go' and we're continuing to make progress towards our mission," Kathy Lueders, NASA's manager of the Commercial Crew Program, told reporters after the review on Monday. "Now the only thing we need to do is control the weather."
Lueders was referring to the overcast, dreary conditions that have lingered over the Space Coast for several days, some of which are expected to continue until launch day. The Space Force's official forecast stands at 40% "go" for liftoff, but it likely improved to around 60% "go" as of Monday evening.
"We of course have been watching Wednesday closely," said Mike McAleenan, a forecaster with the 45th Weather Squadron. "It's really a dynamic situation that's developing across Florida."
The National Hurricane Center, McAleenan said, issued a 20% chance of a tropical low developing near Florida, further complicating guidance models. His team works with SpaceX and NASA to compile data not only for liftoff, but also for the many locations that Crew Dragon could use as a splashdown point in the event of an emergency and subsequent abort.
The 45th Weather Squadron is expected to release its next forecast early Tuesday.
If successful, Wednesday's mission known as Demo-2 will mark the first time in nearly a decade that a crewed vehicle is launched from the United States. Behnken and Hurley are expected to spend one to four months at the orbiting outpost before using the same Crew Dragon to re-enter Earth's atmosphere and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean.
"We had a really good launch readiness review," Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of reliability at SpaceX, said. "Moving forward, we just have to load some cargo."
On Tuesday, the astronauts will spend time with their families and sit in on several briefings. Then on launch day, their timeline through hatch closure includes:
• T-minus 7 hours, 33 minutes: Wake up at 9 a.m. and have breakfast
• T-minus 4 hours 15 minutes.: Crew weather briefing
• T-minus 4 hours: Don suits and conduct checkouts
• T-minus 3 hours, 22 minutes: Walk out of historic Operations and Checkout Building
• T-minus 3 hours, 15 minutes: 20-minute ride to pad 39A in Tesla vehicles
• T-minus 2 hours, 35 minutes: Enter the Crew Dragon capsule
• T-minus 1 hour, 55 minutes: Crew Dragon hatch closes
Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly. Support his space journalism by subscribing at floridatoday.com/specialoffer/.
Launch Wednesday:
- Mission: SpaceX Crew Dragon to International Space Station
- Astronauts: Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley
- Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
- Launch Time: 4:33 p.m.
- Launch Window: Instantaneous; must launch on time
- Launch Pad: 39A at Kennedy Space Center
- Weather: 60% "go"
Join floridatoday.com/space for live coverage of the historic launch beginning at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.
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