This morning, Feb. 24, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will launch the company’s Dragon Endeavour spacecraft and Crew-6 crew members to the International Space Station reached a key milestone ahead of liftoff. While standing on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida, the rocket’s nine Merlin first-stage engines roared to life for seven seconds, completing the routine but critical integrated static fire test.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission will carry NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev to the space station for a six-month science mission. Liftoff is targeted for 1:45 a.m. EST Monday, Feb. 27.
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.
This is the sixth crew rotation mission with astronauts using the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket to the orbiting laboratory as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. More details about the Crew-6 mission can be found in the press kit online and by following the Crew-6 blog, @commercial_crew on Twitter, and commercial crew on Facebook.