UPDATE: This piece has been updated to include new launch date and times.
SpaceX is ready to launch a new crew of astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The international crew of four astronauts will launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to begin their six month mission working and living in space.
Crew 6 is scheduled for launch early Thursday morning, March 2nd, at 12:34 a.m. EST from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA coverage of the launch begins at 8:45 p.m. EST, Wednesday, March 1st with prelaunch activities.
Live NASA coverage is available on the space agency’s website, on NASA TV, via the NASA app, and on YouTube. SpaceX will also provide live launch coverage beginning at 11:45 p.m. CT on its website or the company’s YouTube channel.
NASA has invited the public to attend the launch virtually. After registering, participants will be able to access launch and mission resources and add a launch stamp to a virtual NASA passport. The public can also ask NASA any questions they have about the launch, crew, and mission on social media using the hashtag, #ASKNASA.
The Crew 6 mission makes the seventh overall flight of Crew Dragon, and the sixth crew of astronauts launching to station from U.S. soil as part of NASA’s commercial crew program. The four person crew includes two NASA astronauts, Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, and UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi. As part of the mission, the astronauts will complete dozens of research projects and maintenance duties on the International Space Station for their respective space agencies.
Following liftoff, Crew Dragon Endeavour will complete a series of maneuvers and begin orbiting Earth at about 17,500 mph until it catches up to the International Space Station. SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, California will monitor Endeavour’s flight. The capsule arrives at its destination for docking with the Harmony module at around 1:17 a.m. EST on Friday, March 3rd.
The Falcon 9 booster for this launch is a first flight booster and will return for landing on SpaceX’s drone ship.
Once on Station, Crew 6 will join Expedition 68 crew members, bringing the total number of astronauts in space to eleven for a short period of time. Expedition 68 includes the four members of Crew 5, including Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Anna Kikina, and Koichi Wakata, as well as the crew of MS-22. Due to a coolant leak in the Soyuz spacecraft that brought the crew of MS-22 to the International Space Station, their return has been delayed.
Roscosmos launched a replacement Soyuz to the ISS on February 23rd, so the crew will remain on Station with Crew 6 until later when the crew of MS-24 arrives in space.
