What happened: SpaceX’s second attempt to launch two NASA astronauts on a mission to the International Space Station was successful.
Why it’s important: This is the first crewed spaceflight to take off from US soil in nearly a decade.
NASA and SpaceX will keep their livestream rolling at least until SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, carrying astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, dock with the International Space Station tomorrow.
Docking is scheduled for 10:27 am ET Sunday.
For now, Behnken and Hurley are biding their time on Crew Dragon, and making sure that the spacecraft’s autonomous systems are functioning properly while the spacecraft slowly eases itself on a path to rendezvous with the ISS.
NASA will host a press conference at 6:30 pm ET.
Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley made it through one of the most dangerous portions of their journey: Getting from the launch pad into Earth’s orbit.
The mission so far has gone flawlessly, and SpaceX engineer Lauren Lyons, who frequently hosts SpaceX’s mission webcasts, was visibly emotional in the moments after the spacecraft safely reached space.
The Crew Dragon capsule, carrying astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, is now flying free through Earth’s orbit. The capsule uses tiny thrusters to stay oriented and help steer the spacecraft toward the International Space Station.
It’s a slow and precise journey. Behnken and Hurley will spend about 19 hours in the spacecraft as climbs toward the ISS, where they’re expected to dock around 10:30 am ET tomorrow.
Watch:
The rocket just hit “MECO” – or main engine cutoff. That means the 9 Merlin engines attached to the rocket’s first-stage, the ones that give the initial thrust at liftoff, are done burning fuel for now.
The first-stage of the rocket then broke off from the second-stage rocket, which has its own massive engine optimized for blasting through space where the atmosphere is super thin.
The second-stage lit its engine, and it’s now powering the Crew Dragon capsule to higher and higher speed.
It’ll need to hit at least 17,000 miles per hour to reach “orbital velocity.” That essentially means the spacecraft will be traveling so fast, at just the right angle, that it’ll begin to continuously fall around the earth — otherwise known as orbiting.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket just lit its engines, and astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are now soaring into the upper atmosphere.
Soon, the first-stage rocket booster will detach, and the second-stage of the rocket will light up its own engine — and that will accelerate Behnken and Hurley’s capsule to orbital velocity.
No astronauts have made this journey after launching from the United States since NASA’s Space Shuttle Program retired in 2011
Watch:
The astronauts on board Crew Dragon just shared a final exchange with mission control:
SpaceX is almost done loading the fuel onto the rocket.
Not many checks or milestones remain before liftoff.
At Kennedy Space Center, the nerves are palpable at the press site.
After spending much of the day wondering if the weather would dash another day of preparations, the latest updates have given today’s mission a new sense of reality.
The countdown clock has already passed the mark where it stopped at on Wednesday.
SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell made her first appearance on the NASA-SpaceX webcast.
Shotwell, one of the first dozen employees to join the company, handles most of SpaceX’s day-to-day operations.
The “go/no-go” poll involves several check-ins among flight controllers, weather officials and mission control.
And during the first poll, which happened about 45 minutes left on the countdown clock, weather officials gave the answer everyone wanted to hear: The forecast is looking good right now.
Officials will continue monitoring the weather closely until about a minute before liftoff, when the rocket’s automated computers take over.
Hear more:
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is now being loaded up with more than 1 million pounds of fuel.
The rocket uses two types of fuel: RP-1 (or “Rocket Propellant 1, a type of refined kerosene) and LOX (or liquid oxygen) — which serves as an oxidizer to keep the engine burning after liftoff.
LOX is made of oxygen made so cold it turns liquid, and after it’s loaded, viewers will be able to see what looks like steam or smoke emanating from the rocket. That’s just the super-chilled oxygen boiling off the side of the rocket as the surrounding air heats some of the excess LOX.
The abort system is now armed on Crew Dragon, which means that if anything goes wrong with the rocket from now on, astronauts Bob Bhenken and Doug Hurley will be able to make an extremely speedy exit.
Crew Dragon is equipped with special engines — called Super Draco thrusters — that are designed to blast the crew capsule away from a malfunctioning rocket, taking the astronauts to safety.
That special capability is one reason why NASA says SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is much safer than its predecessor — the Space Shuttle.
Mother Nature appears to be on SpaceX’s side today.
The launch teams just finished the initial “go/no-go” poll, and it’s all systems go.
There was questionable weather earlier in the day. But as the launch controllers checked in before fueling the rocket, weather officials said they were in the clear.
SpaceX’s John Insprucker said they remain cautiously optimistic that conditions will remain acceptable all the way to launch time.
The chance of a weather scrub is also much better at 30%. Earlier in the day, weather officials had given a 50-50 probability.
“We’re optimistic right now. Conditions have been improving.”
The astronauts said they are “go” for launch. And all the technical checks went smoothly this afternoon.
The big question is still whether the weather will hold up, and the latest update is expected in just a few minutes.
The NASA and SpaceX teams will have to decide, based on how the whether looks now, whether to move forward with fueling the rocket.
Carol Scott helped NASA assess what went wrong — and heal from — two tragic accidents during the Space Shuttle program.
But these days, she’s the manager of the Launch Vehicle Office of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program — and that means she and her team were essential in determining that SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule is ready for this mission and that the unavoidable risks were mitigated.
That’s not an easy gig.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule is unique: The company handled design and development, though NASA still provides critical safety oversight. Scott’s team numbered in the thousands when she worked on the Space Shuttle program. But her team now numbers in the hundreds.
Still, Scott has never been more confident, she said.
For one thing, the Shuttle required astronauts to strap into the giant white spaceplane, which was vertically attached to rocket boosters on the launch pad. But for this mission, the astronauts will sit tight in the Crew Dragon capsule, which sits atop one large rocket.
With the Space Shuttle, “a piece of foam came off and hit the orbiter,” causing the catastrophic destruction of the Columbia orbiter in 2003. “But if you have a capsule on top — hey, the only thing that’s gonna hit is a raindrop.”
A large storm just moved in over Florida’s Space Coast, and it doesn’t look to be in any hurry to move away.
At about 1:42 pm, launch officials said the weather is currently a no go.
But it is still possible for the sky to clear in time for launch.
A final decision could come about 45 minutes ahead of the 3:22 pm ET liftoff time.
That’s when the “Go/no-go” poll officially begins. That means launch controllers in Florida will check in with other groups — including mission controllers at SpaceX’s headquarters in California and weather officials at the 45th Space Wing — to make sure everyone is comfortable moving forward.
After making fairly regular appearances during NASA and SpaceX’s webcast on Wednesday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is absent from today’s stream.
Reporters haven’t seen his entourage around today either.
Though, Musk has been sharing a few tweets about the launch.
Weather was always going to be a toss up today. And it’s still more than two hours until liftoff time, but the patchy blue skies were just taken over by storm clouds.
It hasn’t made it to the press site quite yet, but film crews say it’s already down-pouring at the launch pad.
“The weather is still iffy,” launch officials said around 1:15 pm.
On the ride to the launch pad, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley enjoyed a handpicked playlists. Among the selections: AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” Brazilian jazz song “Garota de Ipanema” (“The Girl from Ipanema”), and the Army’s French horn version of the “Star Spangled Banner.”
Stacy Stockwell, a woman from Orlando in her 50s, drove with a group of friends overnight to lock down a viewing spot off the side of a roadway in Cape Canaveral.
She arrived at 3 am and took a nap in her truck.
When asked if she was concerned about Covid-19 risks, Stockwell said, “I am a little bit.”
She said Wednesday’s launch attempt drew jam-packed crowds to the area, and “people aren’t very good at social distancing,” she added.
Still, Stockwell didn’t want to miss out on the historic moment. They set up shop a bit further inland on Saturday, hoping to avoid some of some of the crowds.
