In this image from October 2018, the fully completed station continues its mission to conduct microgravity research and experiments — ranging from human physiology to astronomy aboard humanity’s only orbital laboratory. Photo credit: NASA
NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission is targeted to launch today at 3:22 p.m. EDT. At that time, the International Space Station will be flying at an altitude of 259 statute miles over the Atlantic off the coast of North Carolina.
The Demo-2 mission 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.
The hatch through which NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 crew members entered the Crew Dragon spacecraft has been closed and a leak check is complete. Launch 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 from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. Teams continue to monitor weather conditions throughout the area; there are showers popping up in the area, but the team is proceeding with the count. The next decision point will come prior to the loading of the rocket’s propellants.
NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission 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.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad Thursday, May 28, at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-2 mission. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
The two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has flown 83 times for NASA and other customers. The vehicle made history in 2012 when it delivered Dragon into the correct orbit for rendezvous with the International Space Station, making SpaceX the first commercial company to visit the station. Since then, Falcon 9 has made numerous trips to space, delivering satellites to orbit as well as delivering and returning cargo from the space station for NASA. Click here to see a labeled Falcon 9 illustration.
An illustration of the SpaceX Falcon 9. Image credit: SpaceX
Falcon 9, along with the Dragon spacecraft, was designed from the outset to deliver humans into space, a goal on the cusp of being achieved.
Falcon 9’s first stage incorporates nine Merlin engines and aluminum-lithium alloy tanks containing liquid oxygen (LOX) and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) propellant. Falcon 9 generates more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust at sea level but produces over 1.8 million pounds of thrust in the vacuum of space. The first-stage engines are gradually throttled near the end of first-stage flight to limit launch vehicle acceleration as the rocket’s mass decreases with the burning of fuel.
The rocket’s second stage relies on a single Merlin engine that also runs on LOX and RP-1.
Technical Overview
Height: 70 meters or 229.6 feet
Mass: 549,054 kilograms or 1,207,920 pounds
Payload to Low Earth Orbit: 22,800 kilograms or 50,265 pounds
Diameter: 3.7 meters or 12 feet
The Falcon 9 is the first orbital class rocket capable of reflight, and today, the first-stage booster will aim for a vertical landing on a SpaceX drone ship called “Of Course I Still Love You,” which is waiting offshore in the Atlantic.
The seats inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft have been rotated into position for today’s launch. NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken are now in a reclining position, with their backs nearly parallel with the ground and with easy access to their spacecraft displays.
NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are performing a series of comm checks – communications checks with key members of the launch and mission teams, including the SpaceX launch director and chief engineer, both in Firing Room 4 in Kennedy’s Launch Control Center; and the SpaceX Crew Operations and Resources Engineer (CORE), located at SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, California.
Demo-2 spacecraft commander Douglas Hurley climbed aboard the Crew Dragon first, followed by joint operations commander Robert Behnken, sitting to Hurley’s right. For the boarding process, called “ingress,” the Crew Dragon’s seats are configured in the upright position; later, prior to closure of the spacecraft’s side hatch, the seats will be rotated into a reclined position to give the astronauts easy access to their displays during flight.
Hurley is in Seat 2 and Behnken is to his right in Seat 3. The Crew Dragon can carry up to four astronauts, but Seats 1 and 4 are vacant for this flight.
On NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 flight test, astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will take the SpaceX Crew Dragon for the ultimate test drive to the International Space Station.
The next-generation spacecraft is fully autonomous but also can be controlled manually if needed. During the Demo-2 mission, astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will validate that the spacecraft’s systems operate as expected – both autonomously and manually. Click here to see a labeled Crew Dragon illustration.
An illustration of the SpaceX Crew Dragon. Image credit: SpaceX
“We specifically, as part of this test flight, designed in some time in the preflight phase as well as closer to the space station so we can test out actual manual flying capability of the vehicle, just to see and verify that it handles the way we expect it to and the way the simulator shows it to fly,” Hurley said. “It’s a prudent part of our flight test, just like anything else, in case the eventuality happened for a future crew that needed to take over manually and fly spacecraft. So we’re just doing our part to test out all the different capabilities of Crew Dragon.”
The Crew Dragon has several features that set it apart from the company’s Cargo Dragon, which has made several flights to the orbiting laboratory to deliver cargo. Crew Dragon has an integrated launch escape system to carry the astronauts to safety in the unlikely event of an emergency; we’ll discuss that in more detail later in the countdown. SpaceX has completed a series of parachute tests, including several on the Mark III parachutes on today’s Crew Dragon to ensure a safe return to Earth for the crew.
Inside, the spacecraft’s life support system provides air and pressure, and maintains a comfortable temperature and humidity level. Its touchscreens have been tuned to operate with and without the SpaceX spacesuit gloves, and the control system has been thoroughly tested during the hundreds of hours of training and joint simulations with the crew in both suited and non-suited situations to demonstrate full functionality over the entire expected operating range of Crew Dragon.
Behnken and Hurley have been heavily involved in the development of the Crew Dragon and were careful to provide input that would benefit all future crews to fly aboard the spacecraft.
“We’ve tried very hard to not make it a vehicle that just Bob likes, or just Doug likes; this is a vehicle for everybody after us who’s going to fly it,” Behnken said. “You’re trying to make a vehicle that is easy to operate in space, easy to interpret what it’s telling you, easy to get in and get out of, all those things that you need to do that need to be well-oiled for a space vehicle.”
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-2 mission, Thursday, May 28, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 crew members Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley have arrived at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A.
The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle lifts off with Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. at 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, 1969, from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A. Photo credit: NASA
Launch of Demo-2 mission will kick off a new chapter for this storied launch complex. This was the launch site for 11 Apollo/Saturn V missions, including Apollo 11, which carried the first astronauts to land on the Moon. 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; STS-135, the final shuttle mission; and many more throughout the program’s 30-year span.
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. 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.
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.
The Tesla Model X carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley is photographed from a chase vehicle on the way to the launch complex. An astronaut can be seen waving to the photographer. Image credit: NASA TV
NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are on their way to Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A after departing the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building across the spaceport.
A Tesla with a tag that reads “ISSBND” is photographed at historic Launch Complex 39A during a dress rehearsal for launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 23, 2020, ahead of the agency’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station. Photo credit: Kim Shiflett
Their ride to the pad is a white, customized Tesla Model X outfitted with cooling air for the crew’s suits. Their vehicle – which bears a license plate meaning “ISS Bound” – is traveling in the middle of a convoy including support team members and security personnel.
At the launch site, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft are ready for the crew’s arrival.
Here they come! NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 crew members Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley just stepped out of Kennedy Space Center’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building, or “O&C,” where their ride to Launch Complex 39A – a customized, falcon-wing Tesla Model X – awaits.
The astronauts were greeted by cheers, shouts, waves and “virtual” hugs from their wives, children, friends and colleagues.
