NASA and SpaceX now are targeting 11:16 p.m. EST Saturday, March 2, for the launch of the agency’s Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station. Joint teams selected the updated launch opportunity due to unfavorable weather conditions forecast for Friday, March 1, in offshore areas along the flight track of the Dragon spacecraft. High wind and waves along the eastern seaboard have been observed and are forecast to continue through Saturday morning. In the unlikely case of an abort during launch or the flight of Dragon, the wind and wave conditions must be within acceptable conditions for the safe recovery of the crew and spacecraft.
The live broadcast of the mission – including liftoff and postlaunch milestones – will air on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website at 7:15 p.m. EST. Docking coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 3, for a docking scheduled for approximately 2:10 p.m.
We’ll keep you updated on the key milestones throughout this mission. Details about the mission and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program can be found by following the Crew-8 blog, the commercial crew blog, X, and Facebook.