NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2: Countdown Update

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, foreground, chat with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine (left) and NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard (right) in the suit room prior to leaving for Launch Complex 39A. Image credit: NASA TV

The countdown continues to go well for today’s planned 3:22 p.m. EDT launch of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 flight test to the International Space Station. At Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is powered on and the launch team is pressurizing gaseous storage vessels onboard. Meanwhile, the Crew Dragon spacecraft is being prepared for NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to board later in the countdown. Weather remains the big question for today; the chance of favorable conditions at launch time remains 50%.

We’re standing by to see the crew leave the suit room in Kennedy’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building and wave to their family, friends and support team members before the ride to the launch pad.