It appears that nothing is stopping the Crew Dragon launch, as NASA has officially given its approval. The Space X mission did need a positive NASA review, and this is exactly what it received on Friday. NASA analyzed the Crew Dragon spacecraft and it decided that it’s a “go” for Demo-1 (the first uncrewed test flight of the spacecraft).
The news was announced on the official NASA account via a tweet that you can check out below:
#CrewDragon is a ‘go’ for launch! ? Today at @NASAKennedy, we held a flight readiness review for the March 2 liftoff of @SpaceX Demo-1. Before every launch, teams meet to review the work to be ready for flight. Watch NASA TV at 6pm ET for the latest news: https://t.co/kFnoUyWTAd pic.twitter.com/Ov8cXiE70m
— NASA (@NASA) February 22, 2019
The launch
A Falcon 9 rocket will be used to launch Crew Dragon. The launch will take place on March 2, and the spacecraft will launch from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:48 a.m. EST. One Sunday, March 3, around 5:55 AM, the mission is expected to dock at the space station, as long as everything goes according to the plan.
There will be no crew for the Demo-1 flight of Crew Dragon. However, there will be an instrumented dummy that will be wearing a SpaceX spacesuit. Nonetheless, if the mission is a success, things are not supposed to stop here. A piloted test flight is scheduled for July, as long as everything goes right. Two NASA astronauts will be in the spacecraft then, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken.
This mission is very important for NASA as well. If things work smoothly, NASA won’t have to rely on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft in the future. This is something that could save NASA millions of dollars in the future.
Nora Reynolds is a major in biology and a minor in Biological Basis of Behavior, writing about science in general. She also likes to try new gadgets and sports about the AI new era.
