A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen after being raised into a vertical position on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Feb. 28, 2019, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 for Demo-1, the first flight test of the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, is targeted for Saturday, March 2, at 2:49 a.m. EST from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On this uncrewed mission, the first under the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, the Crew Dragon will fly to the International Space Station in an end-to-end demonstration of the company’s ability to launch astronauts to the orbiting laboratory and return them home. To learn more, read the prelaunch feature story.
Join us at 2 a.m. for countdown coverage here on the blog and on NASA TV.
Mission Timeline (all times approximate) COUNTDOWN Min/Sec—Events -45:00—SpaceX Launch Director verifies “go” for propellant load
-37:00—Dragon launch escape system is armed
-35:00—RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins
-35:00—First stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins
-16:00—Second stage LOX loading begins
-07:00—Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch
-05:00—Dragon transitions to internal power
-01:00—Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks
-01:00—Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins
-00:45—SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch
-00:03—Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start
-00:00—Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft
LAUNCH, LANDING AND DRAGON DEPLOYMENT Min/Sec—Events 00:58—Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
02:35—First stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
02:38—First and second stages separate
02:42—Second stage engine starts
07:48—First stage entry burn
08:59—Second stage engine cutoff (SECO-1)
09:24—First stage landing burn
09:52—First stage landing
11:00—Dragon separates from second stage
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen after being raised into a vertical position on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Feb. 28, 2019, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is vertical and set for a 2:49 a.m. EST Saturday launch to the International Space Station on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will be the first time in history a commercially-built and operated American crew spacecraft and rocket launches from American soil.
The Demo-1 mission, SpaceX’s inaugural flight with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, will provide the teams an end-to-end flight test to ensure the spacecraft and systems operate as designed before launching with astronauts.
Launch coverage on NASA TV and the launch blog will begin at 2 a.m., March 2, followed at 4 a.m. by a post-launch news conference with representatives from NASA and SpaceX. The launch and post-launch news conference also will air on NASA TV.
U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing meteorologists continue to forecast an 80 percent chance of favorable weather at liftoff.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled to the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Feb. 28, 2019 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft—designed to fly astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil—is ready for its debut flight on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. It is a first-of-its-kind test mission of a commercially-built and operated American spacecraft and rocket designed for humans.
The Demo-1 uncrewed flight test, targeted to launch March 2, will demonstrate the company’s ability to safely launch crew to the space station and return them home.
“It’s time to fly the SpaceX Demo-1 mission,” said Steve Stich, NASA launch manager and deputy manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “This mission is an important step in returning human spaceflight to American soil. SpaceX and NASA teams are working side-by-side on this mission from start to finish as we have throughout this process. This flight test will inform the system design, operations and drive any changes that need to be made ahead of crew flights. We are ready to learn by flying.”
NASA and SpaceX are working together as public-private partnerships to build on the success of American companies already delivering cargo to the space station. Demo-1 is a critical step for NASA and SpaceX to demonstrate the ability to safely fly missions with NASA astronauts to the orbital laboratory.
The first launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft aboard the company’s Falcon 9 rocket is now only two days away. Liftoff of the uncrewed flight test, called Demo-1, is targeted for 2:49 a.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. The milestone will mark the first launch of a commercially built American rocket and spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station.
Meteorologists with the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron continue to predict an 80 percent chance of favorable weather for launch on Saturday morning, with the possibility of thick clouds or cumulus clouds posing the main concern.
NASA will broadcast a prelaunch briefing from Kennedy at 4 p.m. today. Participants are:
Kathy Lueders, manager, NASA Commercial Crew Program
Joel Montalbano, deputy manager, International Space Station Program
Hans Koenigsmann, vice president, Build and Flight Reliability, SpaceX
Pat Forrester, chief, Astronaut Office, Johnson Space Center
Melody C. Lovin, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron
Learn more about the mission and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program in the press kit and by following the @commercial_crew on Twitter and commercial crew on Facebook.
Three days remain until the planned liftoff of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket—the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans. Liftoff is targeted for 2:49 a.m. EST on Saturday, March 2, from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission to the International Space Station serves as an end-to-end test of the system’s capabilities.
The launch weather forecast continues to look promising; meteorologists with the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing predict an 80 percent chance of favorable weather at launch time. Thick clouds or cumulus clouds that would violate launch requirements are the primary weather concerns.
NASA will host a prelaunch briefing at Kennedy at 4 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 28. The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA TV. See the full briefings and events schedule, including briefing participants, at https://go.nasa.gov/2GBCB5A.
SpaceX Demo-1 static fire test at Launch Complex 39A, Jan. 24, 2019. Photo credit: SpaceX
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon (although without astronauts on this mission) on its Demo-1 flight test to the International Space Station will lift off from the same historic site where astronauts first launched to the moon. Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is also the site of dozens of space shuttle launches that helped build the orbital laboratory.
Space shuttle Atlantis was poised for liftoff at Launch Pad 39A on July 7, 2011, one day prior to launch on mission STS-135. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Launch Complexes 39A and B were constructed in the 1960s. Both launch pads have a long history of supporting launches for the Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs. Launch Pad 39A was the launch site for 11 Saturn V Apollo missions, including Apollo 11, the first Moon landing. The pad also was the launch site for 82 space shuttle missions, including STS-1, the first shuttle launch, the STS-125 final servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope, and STS-135, the final shuttle mission.
After the space shuttle was retired in 2011, NASA began the process to transform Kennedy Space Center from a historically government-only launch facility into a multi-user spaceport for both government and commercial use. On April 14, 2014, the agency signed a property agreement with SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, for use of the launch site for the next 20 years.
Liftoff of SpaceX CRS-10, a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station, was the company’s first launch from Launch Complex 39A. Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray
SpaceX upgraded and modified the launch pad to support its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. The company also built a horizontal processing hangar at the base of the pad to perform final vehicle integration prior to flight. The first SpaceX launch from the pad was the company’s 10th commercial resupply services (CRS-10) mission for NASA. A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched a Dragon cargo spacecraft on CRS-10 on Feb. 19, 2017. The Dragon delivered about 5,500 pounds of supplies to the space station, including the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III instrument to further study ozone in the Earth’s atmosphere. NASA and SpaceX combined have launched more than 100 missions from Pad 39A.
Because of NASA’s partnership with SpaceX within the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, Launch Complex 39A will once again be the site of crewed missions to the space station.
NASA also is partnered with Boeing to return crewed missions to the space station; the company will launch its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket a few miles down the shoreline, from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
By relying on industry trips to low-Earth orbit, NASA can concentrate on developing rockets and spacecraft for missions to the Moon and Mars.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) features a new generation of American spacecraft and rockets that will fly astronauts to the International Space Station, boosting the orbiting laboratory’s total crew to seven and expanding its capabilities as a one-of-a-kind microgravity research asset. Today, astronauts living aboard the station must balance time to devote solely to research with maintenance work critical to their safety while in space. Adding just one additional crew member could nearly double the amount of time the crew members could dedicate to research and scientific discovery.
Flights to the space station with CCP partners Boeing and SpaceX could pave the way for more private research opportunities, too.
“Think about that crazy day when you’re now able to have private researchers go up to help,” said Patrick O’Neill, senior marketing and communications manager with the Center for Advancement of Science in Space, which manages the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory. “That idea is coming closer and closer with every single day.”
Much of the technology developed on or for the space station has a direct benefit here on Earth. As an example, David Brady, International Space Station program scientist, says, “Robotics that have been so important in the building and the maintaining of the space station have come down to Earth in the form of robotic surgery.” Between the technological advancements and the ability to study and observe the impacts of living in a gravity-free environment, the space station has become paramount for advancements in research and development.
With a greater focus on research through CCP, investigations conducted in low-Earth orbit will also be key to understanding how to better prepare and protect crews for future missions to the Moon and Mars. Studying how organisms react to life with and without gravity will provide the pathway toward understanding how humans could live other places in the solar system, thus paving the way to test how astronauts could leave Earth for years at a time for a roundtrip to explore Mars. With this understanding, astronauts will truly be able to go where no one has gone before. Learn more
Throughout NASA’s history, the agency has worked with industry and academia to explore and utilize the space frontier. Contractors built rockets, satellites and spacecraft. Colleges and universities have worked with NASA scientists and engineers to develop technology to support investigations leading to discoveries.
As the 30-year Space Shuttle Program was drawing to a close, NASA again began plans to reach beyond low-Earth orbit. To allow a focus on exploration to the Moon and Mars, NASA has entered into partnerships with industry opening a variety of new opportunities.
A little more than two years after the final shuttle flight, SpaceX’s Dragon and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft began successfully launching atop their company’s Falcon 9 and Antares rockets to resupply the International Space Station. The companies developed the rockets and spacecraft through public-private partnerships under the agency’s commercial resupply services contracts.
Sierra Nevada Corp’s Dream Chaser
More recently, NASA selected Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser spacecraft to join with Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, in delivering critical science, research and technology experiments to the space station for the agency’s second commercial resupply contracts from 2019 to 2024.
Additionally, NASA formed the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) to facilitate the development of a U.S. commercial crew space transportation capability with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the space station and other destinations in low-Earth orbit.
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner
In September 2014, NASA announced the selection of Boeing and SpaceX to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station aboard their CST-100 Starliner and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively. This will end the nation’s reliance on Russia to transport crews to the orbiting laboratory. Boeing’s Starliner will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and SpaceX Falcon 9 will power the company’s Crew Dragon to orbit.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon at Launch Complex 39A
The first uncrewed Demo-1 test flight of the Crew Dragon is slated for March 2, 2019 and the Starliner’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test is planned for no earlier than April 2019. The inaugural crewed missions of the Crew Dragon and Starliner are set to take place later this year.
The flourishing U.S. space industry continues its growth with Blue Origin building a facility to manufacture and launch reusable rockets from just outside the gates of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. For launch operations, Blue Origin plans to refurbish Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a no-longer-needed Atlas II launch pad. This is the first time an entire rocket system will be built and processed on Florida’s Space Coast.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) and private industry partners, Boeing and SpaceX, are on the verge of making history with the return of human spaceflight launches to the International Space Station from United States soil.
The upcoming flights of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft will be the first time NASA has sent astronauts to space on systems owned, built, tested and operated by private companies. By allowing industry to provide transportation services to the space station, the agency can concentrate on developing emerging technologies for exploring distant destinations well beyond low-Earth orbit such as the Moon and Mars.
In September 2014, the agency announced the selection of Boeing and SpaceX to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station. This also will mark the return of launching U.S. astronauts on American spacecraft and rockets to low-Earth orbit since the final space shuttle mission in 2011.
The inaugural flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, known as Demo-1, will be uncrewed and is designed to validate end-to-end systems and capabilities, leading to certification to fly a crew. SpaceX’s first crewed flight, Demo-2, will fully demonstrate the company’s ability to safely fly NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the space station. Behnken and Hurley have each flown two space shuttle missions.
In the near future, the uncrewed, opening act for Boeing’s Starliner, known as its Orbital Flight Test, will demonstrate the human transportation capabilities in advance of certification to fly astronauts to space. The first flight with crew aboard a Starliner, the Crew Flight Test, will fully demonstrate Boeing’s ability to fly humans safely to and from the International Space Station. Onboard will be NASA astronaut Mike Finke, a veteran of three spaceflights; NASA astronaut Nicole Mann; and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson, who previously led Starliner’s Crew and Mission Systems and flew three space shuttle missions.
CCP will provide safe, reliable and cost-effective access to low-Earth orbit destinations, and it will end reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft. As a result, the station’s current crew of six can grow, enabling more research aboard the unique microgravity laboratory.
*NASA and Boeing provided updates on Oct. 11, 2019. For the details on Boeing flight tests and the schedule, visit https://go.nasa.gov/328xeSL.
NASA and its Commercial Crew Program providers Boeing and SpaceX have agreed to move the target launch dates for the upcoming inaugural test flights of their next generation American spacecraft and rockets that will launch astronauts to the International Space Station.
The agency now is targeting March 2 for launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon on its uncrewed Demo-1 test flight. Boeing’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test is targeted for launch no earlier than April.
These adjustments allow for completion of necessary hardware testing, data verification, remaining NASA and provider reviews, as well as training of flight controllers and mission managers.
The uncrewed test flights will be the first time commercially-built and operated American spacecraft designed for humans will dock to the space station. The first flights are dress rehearsals for missions with astronauts aboard the vehicles. Commercial crew has continued working toward these historic missions throughout the month of January.
SpaceX Demo-1 static fire
“The uncrewed flight tests are a great dry run for not only our hardware, but for our team to get ready for our crewed flight tests,” said Kathy Lueders, Commercial Crew Program manager. “NASA has been working together with SpaceX and Boeing to make sure we are ready to conduct these test flights and get ready to learn critical information that will further help us to fly our crews safely. We always learn from tests.”
In January, SpaceX successfully completed a static fire test of its Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon atop the rocket at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida, in preparation for Demo-1.
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner continues to undergo testing in preparation for its Orbital Flight Test, and United Launch Alliance is conducting final processing of the Atlas V rocket that will launch Starliner from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
“There still are many critical steps to complete before launch and while we eagerly are anticipating these launches, we will step through our test flight preparations and readiness reviews,” said Lueders. “We are excited about seeing the hardware we have followed through development, integration, and ground testing move into flight.”
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program will return human spaceflight launches to U.S. soil, providing safe, reliable and cost-effective access to low-Earth orbit and the space station on systems that meet safety and performance requirements.
To meet NASA’s requirements, the commercial providers must demonstrate their systems are ready to begin regular flights to the space station. After the uncrewed flight tests, Boeing and SpaceX will complete a flight test with crew prior to being certified by NASA for crew rotation missions. The following planning dates reflect inputs by the Commercial Crew Program and the two companies and are current as of Feb. 4, 2019.
Test Flight Planning Dates:
SpaceX Demo-1 (uncrewed): March 2, 2019
Boeing Orbital Flight Test (uncrewed): NET April 2019
Boeing Pad Abort Test: NET May 2019
SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test: June 2019
SpaceX Demo-2 (crewed): July 2019
Boeing Crew Flight Test (crewed): NET August 2019
SpaceX also completed a pad abort test in 2015. Following the test flights, NASA will review performance data and resolve any necessary issues to certify the systems for operational missions. Boeing, SpaceX and the Commercial Crew Program are actively working to be ready for the operational missions. As with all human spaceflight vehicle development, learning from each test and adjusting as necessary to reduce risk to the crew may override planning dates.
