On Tuesday, April 26, teams with NASA and SpaceX completed the final major review – the Launch Readiness Review (LRR) – for the agency’s Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station. At the conclusion of the review, the team confirmed the target launch time of 3:52 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 27, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission coverage is as follows for Tuesday, April 26 (all times Eastern):
7 a.m. (approximately) – Prelaunch news teleconference at Kennedy with the following participants:
- Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA Kennedy
- Joel Montalbano, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA Johnson
- Zeb Scoville, chief flight director, Flight Operations Directorate, NASA Johnson
- Jessica Jensen, vice president, customer operations and integration, SpaceX
- Josef Aschbacher, director general, ESA
- Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, U.S. Space Force 45th Weather Squadron
9 a.m. – NASA administrator media briefing on NASA TV with the following participants:
- Bill Nelson, NASA administrator
- Bob Cabana, NASA associate administrator
- Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington
- Josef Aschbacher, director general, ESA
- Heidi Parris, associate program scientist for the International Space Station Program, NASA Johnson
The Crew-4 flight will carry NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, and Jessica Watkins, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti to the International Space Station for science expedition mission to the microgravity laboratory. Crew-4 is the fourth crew rotation mission under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Weather officials with the U.S. Space Force 45th Weather Squadron continue to predict a 90% chance of favorable weather conditions at the launch pad for liftoff of the Crew-4 mission based on Falcon 9 Crew Dragon launch weather criteria. The primary weather concerns for the launch area are the cumulus cloud and flight through precipitation rules. Teams will also monitor weather conditions both for the launch area and downrange for the flight of Crew Dragon.
More details about the mission and NASA’s commercial crew program can be found by following the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on Twitter, and commercial crew on Facebook.