NASA and SpaceX are pretty much ready for Friday’s launch of four astronauts to the International Space Station.
The space agency posted a video on Monday as part of the build-up for Friday’s launch. You can watch it below.
Operated by NASA and SpaceX, the Crew-7 launch will carry American Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency), Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Konstantin Borisov of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency.
On Sunday, the team of international astronauts departed NASA’s Houston facility following months of intense training, and headed to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to get ready for the trip to orbit.
The four spacefarers will fly aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Endurance, deployed to orbit by SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. They’ll live and work aboard the ISS for six months, orbiting about 250 miles above Earth.
The launch is targeted for 3:49 a.m. ET on Friday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the orbital outpost at 2:02 a.m. ET on Saturday, August 26. Be sure to check NASA’s social media feeds for any last-minute changes to the schedule.
NASA will provide coverage of the prelaunch and launch activities for the mission to the space station. Digital Trends has an article detailing how to watch the livestream of the entire event.
“As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, Crew-7 marks the eighth human spaceflight mission supported by a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and the seventh crew rotation mission to the space station since 2020 for NASA,” the space agency said on its website.
It will also be NASA’s first mission involving professional astronauts since the Crew-6 flight in February, and its first crewed flight since the Ax-2 mission three months ago that took four private citizens to the ISS for a short stay.
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