Historic Event Today: NASA partners with SpaceX for Astronaut Launch
Today is the day! At 4:33PM today NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, will launch the SpaceX Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon and head towards the International Space Station. This launch is especially significant because it will be the first commercially operated crewed rocket launch ever and be the first human launch from American soil in almost 10 years! The crew will launch from pad 39-A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida- the same pad that Apollo 11 astronauts launched from in 1969 for humans first landing on the Moon. Below, watch a demo of the mission that will launch later today.
NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. Image credit: spacex
In the past, spectators have flocked to the Kennedy Space Center to watch the shuttles launch, but due to the Covid-19 outbreak and pandemic, spectators are being asked to stay home for the launch. To ensure safe travels and the safety of the astronauts on the International Space Station, Behnken and Hurley have been in quarantine since May 13th. A two-week quarantine is typical before launches to the International Space Station, but NASA and SpaceX took extra precautions to ensure that the crew doesn’t bring Covid-19 to space. This mostly involved maintaining social distancing practices during training, keeping training personnel to a bare minimum, and requiring anyone interacting with the crew to undergo a temperature check and wear protective gear.
Today, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will head to the launch pad 3 hours before launch. They will be transported in a white Tesla Model X. They will take an elevator to the crew access arm on the launch tower and climb into the capsule. They will then have to do a series of system checks that will determine whether the capsule is go for launch and will arm the Crew Dragon’s abort system that will blast them off the pad if there’s an emergency. SpaceX will begin fueling the rocket with supercooled liquid oxygen and kerosene 45 minutes before launch.
The whole journey in space will take about 19 hours. The amount of time the astronauts will spend on the International Space Station will not be determined until they have arrived. The launch is also up in the air as well. If the space craft cannot be launched exactly at 4:33PM, then it will have to be rescheduled. NASA is very conscious of the weather, and if the weather does not corporate today, then the launch would be pushed back as well. The back up date for the launch is Saturday, May 30th, if all does not go as planned today.
The launch is broadcasting live today. Check out the live feed below for all of the launch and flight details. Pre-launch coverage will begin at 12:15PM and the live feed will continue until 11:30AM tomorrow.
