In the early-morning hours on Friday, Feb. 24, NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, along with UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, will participate in a countdown dress rehearsal at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for the upcoming Crew-6 launch, targeted for 1:45 a.m. EST Monday, Feb. 27.
Rehearsal will begin with launch teams assisting Crew-6 crewmates into their SpaceX spacesuits inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building – just as they will on launch day. Next, the crew will take the elevator down to the ground floor and exit the building’s double doors, where Tesla Model Xs will be waiting to drive them the short distance to Launch Complex 39A.
After they arrive at the launch pad, Bowen, Hoburg, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev will ride the launch tower’s elevator up to the crew access arm – the walkway they will use to enter Endeavour. Once securely seated inside, the crew will check their communications systems before the spacecraft’s hatch is closed. The rehearsal will conclude with the “Go/No-Go” poll for Falcon 9 fueling, which normally occurs about 45 minutes before liftoff.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft Endeavour that will carry the crew to the International Space Station arrived at the launch pad and was raised into a vertical position for launch on Thursday, Feb. 23. The Endeavour spacecraft previously flew NASA’s Crew-1, Inspiration4, and Axiom Mission-1 astronauts.
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.