In an official report released Thursday, Feb. 23, weather officials with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron predict a 95% chance of favorable weather conditions for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the cumulus cloud rule serving as the primary weather concern.
Liftoff is targeted for 1:45 a.m. EST, Monday, Feb. 27, from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A. The mission will carry two NASA astronauts – Commander Stephen Bowen and Pilot Warren “Woody” Hoburg – along with UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who join as mission specialists, to the International Space Station.
The crew is scheduled for a long-duration stay of up to six months aboard the space station conducting science and maintenance before returning to Earth.
Starting at 10:15 p.m. EST on Feb. 26, there will be a live broadcast of the mission – including liftoff and postlaunch milestones – on NASA Television and the agency’s website. Follow along here on the Crew-6 blog for key events leading up to launch, and then follow on launch day starting at 9 p.m. EST.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the company’s Dragon spacecraft Endeavour atop, was raised to the vertical position Thursday, Feb. 23, at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida in preparation for the Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station.
Earlier today, the mated spacecraft and rocket arrived at the launch complex after rolling out from the SpaceX integration hangar adjacent to the pad. An integrated static fire test and dry dress rehearsal with the crew will occur prior to liftoff, targeted for 1:45 a.m. EST Monday, Feb. 27.
The mission will carry two NASA astronauts, Mission Commander Stephen Bowen and Pilot Warren “Woody” Hoburg, along with UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who will serve as mission specialists, to the space station for a science expedition mission.
Crew members will spend up to six months at the microgravity laboratory before returning to Earth. The mission marks the fourth spaceflight for Bowen, who flew space shuttle missions STS-126 in 2008, STS-132 in 2010, and STS-133 in 2011. Crew-6 will be the first spaceflight for Hoburg, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev.
Beginning at 9 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 26, NASA will offer blog coverage of launch-day activities on the Crew-6 blog. At 10:15 p.m. EST, tune in to a live launch broadcast on NASA TV or the agency’s website and follow along through countdown and other key mission milestones.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the company’s Dragon spacecraft Endeavour atop, arrived at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A this morning, Feb. 23, after rolling out from the SpaceX integration hangar adjacent to the launch pad.
The spacecraft and rocket will be raised to the vertical position for an integrated static fire test and dry dress rehearsal with the crew prior to launch.
Liftoff of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission is targeted for Monday, Feb. 27, at 1:45 a.m. EST. The mission will fly NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev to the International Space Station for up to six months to perform science, technology demonstrations, and maintenance activities aboard the space station.
Starting at 10:15 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, tune in to a Crew-6 live launch broadcast on NASA TV or the agency’s website and follow along through countdown and other key mission milestones.
Four Expedition 68 crew members are preparing for their return to Earth next month while also working on space physics and household maintenance tasks. Meanwhile, a two crew ships, one from Roscosmos and one from SpaceX, are nearing their launch to the International Space Station.
NASA Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada reviewed their upcoming departure procedures today ahead of next month’s planned return to Earth inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance. The duo were joined by Flight Engineers Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Anna Kikina of Roscosmos as they looked over the steps they will take during their homebound flight.
The quartet trained on a computer to undock Endurance from the Harmony module, reenter Earth’s atmosphere, and parachute to a safe splashdown in the waters off the coast of Florida. Mann will command Crew Dragon Endurance with Cassada piloting the vehicle as Wakata and Kikina remain seated to either side of the astronauts. The quartet launched to the station on the SpaceX Crew-5 mission on Oct. 5, 2022.
Their replacements will arrive as the Crew-6 mission after it launches on Monday at 1:45 a.m. EST from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg will be the respective commander and pilot of Crew Dragon Endeavour. They will be flanked inside the vehicle by astronaut Sultan Alneyadi of the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos. The foursome will dock to the space-facing port of Harmony module at 2:29 a.m. on Tuesday and live and work aboard the orbital outpost for six months conducting critical space research.
NASA TV, on the agency’s app and website, will begin its live Crew-6 launch broadcast on Sunday at 9 p.m. Once the launch broadcast is over, live mission audio will stream until NASA TV resumes with its docking coverage set to begin at 12:45 a.m. on Tuesday.
A passengerless Soyuz MS-23 crew ship is also being readied for lift off at 7:24 p.m. on Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a two-day trek to the space station. Besides delivering provisions for the crew, the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft will return NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin back to Earth later this year.
The orbital residents also have been continuing their science and lab upkeep tasks during the busy visiting vehicle preparations. Rubio, with support from Wakata, installed an ultra-high temperature furnace inside the Kibo laboratory module. The specialized furnace enables safe observations of thermophysical properties of super-heated samples. Mann and Cassada took turns cleaning crew quarters in the overhead and deck portions of the Harmony module.
Prokopyev worked in the Roscosmos segment of the station checking the performance of a 3-D printer. Petelin worked on a pair of different experiments including a fluid physics study and space biology investigation. Kikina wrapped up operations for an Earth observation study and a carbon dioxide monitoring session.
During a media teleconference Tuesday, Feb. 21, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA provided an update to NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff, from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A, is slated for Monday, Feb. 27, at 1:45 a.m. EST. Live launch-day coverage on NASA TV and the agency’s website begins at 10 p.m. EST. Sunday, Feb. 26.
Managers from NASA and SpaceX, along with international partners, met throughout the day Tuesday as part of the mission’s Flight Readiness Review (FRR) in preparation for the sixth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the microgravity laboratory. The FRR focused on the preparedness of SpaceX’s crew transportation system, the space station, and its international partners to support the flight, as well as the certification of flight readiness.
The Crew-6 launch will carry two NASA astronauts, Mission Commander Stephen Bowen and Pilot Warren “Woody” Hoburg, along with UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who will serve as mission specialists, to the space station for a science expedition mission. They will fly aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour, carried by the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.
Crew-6 will spend up to six months at the space station before returning to Earth. The mission marks the fourth spaceflight for Bowen, who flew space shuttle missions STS-126 in 2008, STS-132 in 2010, and STS-133 in 2011. Crew-6 will be the first spaceflight for Hoburg, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev.
The Expedition 68 crew members began the week exploring what microgravity is doing to their bodies and ways to offset those effects. The International Space Station’s residents also inspected BEAM as a pair of crew ships prepare to blast off to the orbital outpost.
Flight Engineers Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) kicked off Monday with muscle scans in the Kibo laboratory module. The pair took turns marking each other’s back, neck, leg, and arm muscles and measuring their biochemical properties. They used both the Myotones device and an Ultrasound scanner to study microgravity’s effect on muscle tone, elasticity, and stiffness. The human research study may inform advanced treatments for muscle conditions on Earth and in space.
NASA Flight Engineers Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada spent their Monday partnering on a variety of maintenance activities. Rubio opened up BEAM, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, and entered it performing inspections and organizing cargo inside the seven-year-old module. Cassada also worked inside BEAM collecting atmospheric and surface microbe samples for incubating and analysis.
In the Roscosmos segment of the orbiting lab, cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Anna Kikina tested the lower body negative pressure suit. Doctors are exploring the suit’s ability to counteract the upward flow of body fluids causing head and eye pressure in crew members. Prokopyev also had time for cardiac research before checking the performance of a 3-D printer. Kikina spent the rest of her day on life support maintenance. Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin assisted Prokopyev with the cardiac study then collected samples from a science freezer and serviced them for a space biology study.
Two crew ships are poised to launch to the orbiting lab before the end of the month. Teams are assessing the launch date of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, which will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will dock automatically to the Poisk module. The MS-23 will arrive uncrewed but will return home crewmates Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin on a future date.
The SpaceX Crew-6 mission is targeted to launch on Monday at 1:45 a.m. from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew Dragon Endeavour will carry Commander Stephen Bowen and Pilot Warren “Woody” Hoburg along with Mission Specialists Sultan Alneyadi and Andrey Fedyaev to the station where they will dock to the Harmony module’s space-facing port beginning a six-month space research mission. Bowen and Hoburg are both NASA astronauts and Alneyadi is an astronaut representing the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and Fedyaev is a cosmonaut representing Roscosmos.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 flight crew has reported to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to start final preparations for their mission to the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev arrived at Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility at approximately 12:20 p.m. today, Feb. 21, after departing Ellington Field near the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Coming up shortly is a brief media event with the crew, which will be broadcast live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. In attendance will be:
Kelvin Manning, deputy director, Kennedy
Dana Hutcherson, deputy manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
Salem AlMarri, director general, Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre
NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen
NASA astronaut Warren Hoburg
UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi
Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev
The international crew will fly aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, which previously flew NASA’s Crew-1, Inspiration4, and Axiom Mission-1 astronauts. Liftoff is targeted for 2:07 a.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 26 – from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 crew members departed Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston this afternoon, Feb. 21, and are en route to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, commander; Warren “Woody” Hoburg, pilot; and mission specialists astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev will land at Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility at approximately 12:30 p.m. Upon arrival, they will be greeted by NASA leaders before conducting a brief interview with media.
Tune in to NASA TV or the agency’s website to view the media event.
Bowen, Hoburg, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev are slated to lift off from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A at 2:07 a.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 26. They will fly aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour – carried by a Falcon 9 rocket – for a science expedition mission to the International Space Station.
Managers from NASA and SpaceX, along with international partners, are gathered at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida today, Feb. 21, for the Crew-6 mission’s Flight Readiness Review (FRR) in preparation for the sixth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
During the next several hours, the FRR will focus on the preparedness of SpaceX’s crew transportation system, the space station, and its international partners to support the flight, as well as the certification of flight readiness.
At the conclusion of the FRR, NASA will hold a media teleconference to discuss the outcome. The teleconference is slated to begin at approximately 6 p.m. today and includes the following participants:
Ken Bowersox, deputy associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington
Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, Kennedy
Dana Weigel, deputy manager, International Space Station Program, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston
Emily Nelson, chief flight director, Johnson
William Gerstenmaier, vice president, Build and Flight Reliability, SpaceX
Adnan AlRais, mission manager UAE Astronaut Mission 2, Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre
NASA and SpaceX continue to target no earlier than 2:07 a.m. EST, Sunday, Feb. 26, for launch of Crew-6 from Kennedy. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, who will serve as mission commander and pilot, respectively, along with UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who will serve as mission specialists, to the microgravity laboratory.
NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission with astronauts to the International Space Station.
Launch is targeted for 2:07 a.m. EST, Sunday, Feb. 26, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to dock to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at 2:54 a.m., Monday, Feb. 27.
Crew arrival at Kennedy, launch, the postlaunch news conference, and docking coverage will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. NASA also will host audio-only news teleconferences following the agency’s flight and launch readiness reviews. Follow all live events at: https://www.nasa.gov/live
The Crew-6 launch will carry two NASA astronauts, Mission Commander Stephen Bowen and Pilot Warren “Woody” Hoburg, along with UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who will serve as mission specialists to the space station for a science expedition mission.