SpaceX Crew-1 Mission: Everything you need to know about the historic launch

Although prof Global pandemic, Record Hurricane season And the need to replace problematic rocket engines, NASA and SpaceX remain determined to launch the historic Crew-1 mission from Florida on Sunday. It follows the flight of four astronauts to the International Space Station in the Crew Dragon capsule over a Falcon 9 rocket Demo-2 mission success And the The historical beginning It will identify some of the major milestones in spaceflight.

Here are answers to your most pressing questions about the mission.

Wait, what was that about the engines?

The Crew-1 target launch date has been pushed back from late October after NASA and SpaceX noticed some unexpected behavior from some of the Falcon 9 engines set to be used on an unrelated mission GPS military satellite launch. This task is deleted just two seconds before the countdown and Investigation revealed later A stray piece of shellac has clogged the line of a small relief valve. The blockage caused two of the rocket engines to try to fire early, which could damage the engines and did not automatically stop the take-off.

SpaceX found that the rocket engines to be used for the Crew 1 had “the same directions.” The launch date has moved to November, the engines have switched, and now NASA and SpaceX are satisfied with the time.

Well, why is Crew-1 such a big problem?

Crew-1 is part of the crest NASA Commercial Staff Program These were years of work. For decades, NASA has developed its rockets and spacecraft internally with the help of contractors, but the Commercial Crewe program works more like chartering a flight. Companies like SpaceX and Boeing have vehicles designed for use by other customers, and NASA can ride on them.

It’s also a big step in bringing spaceflight back to American soil. From the end of the space shuttle program in 2011 until The Demo-2 mission that sent two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station aboard the Crew Dragon earlier this year.NASA relied on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to take astronauts into orbit.

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SpaceX is preparing to take the first astronauts to space

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Demo-2 has been considered a successful showing of Crew Dragon and NASA views Crew-1 as the first official crew rotation mission from American shores since the shuttle’s retirement.

“It’s exciting, especially with Crew-1 being the first time we’ve ever put four people in a space capsule. As humans, that’s pretty cool,” NASA’s Anthony Farha explainedMission Chief Flight Manager. “It’s also the longest-running mission for a US manned capsule.”

Who flies in the Crew Dragon?

Besides the historic flight, he will be the captain of NASA’s Dragon Crew Michael Hopkins, Pilot Victor Glover, And task specialist Shannon WalkerHe was joined by a Japanese Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission specialist. Soichi Noguchi For the space station.

So far, three people in the Soyuz capsule have been a narrow flight, but the Crew Dragon can hold up to seven (for comparison, the Space Shuttle flew crews of up to eight), making the journey of these four astronauts seem relatively wide.

How long is the trip?

Crew-1 members embark on a six-month science mission, which is exciting for people involved in the world of orbit and space science because four crew members make the journey to more hands than are available on the station to conduct more experiments in microgravity.

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

But first, of course, the astronauts will have to get there. The actual flight to the International Space Station takes about eight and a half hours from launch on Saturday night to docking with the station early Sunday morning.

How do I watch?

Here. NASA and SpaceX will broadcast the launch, Currently scheduled for Sunday Nov.15 at 4:27 PM PDT (after being pushed back from Saturday due to weather) from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

NASA TV will broadcast the launch Docking, we also take a live stream which you can watch below.