Several NASA and SpaceX teams across the country have roles in today’s launch. SpaceX’s launch team is commanding the countdown from Firing Room 4 in Kennedy’s Launch Control Center, then will transfer control to the company’s mission control center in Hawthorne, California. Meanwhile, NASA teams at Kennedy and the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston are monitoring today’s activities.
Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley remains scheduled for 3:22 p.m. EDT – an instantaneous launch opportunity. The crew is already strapped into the spacecraft at Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A. The launch team continues to closely monitor the weather, which has a 50-50 chance of cooperating at launch time according to meteorologists with the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron.
NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station will serve as an end-to-end flight test to validate the SpaceX crew transportation system, from launch to docking to splashdown. It is the final flight test for the system to be certified for regular crew flights to the station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.