SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon Endeavor spacecraft launched on Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Friday. The hydraulics raised the 65-meter-high (65-meter) vertical rocket on the historic launch pad in preparation for takeoff, with four astronauts heading for the International Space Station.
The two-stage launcher, powered by a re-used booster stage since the crew’s launch in November, is scheduled to take off on Thursday at 6:11 a.m. EDT (1011 GMT) with NASA Commander Shane Kimbrough, pilot Megan McArthur, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and the specialist in the mission of the European Space Agency Thomas Pesquet.
All veterans of previous space missions, the four astronauts go on a six-month expedition on the space station. They will go into orbit inside the cabin of the commercial spacecraft SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavor, renovated after a flight last year.
The Crew-2 mission marks the first time SpaceX has launched a manned mission using a reused rocket and spaceship. It’s the third Crew Dragon flight with astronauts in general and the second complete rotation mission of the SpaceX crew to the space station.
The Falcon 9 rocket traveled with a carrier along the railroads for the quarter-mile journey on the ramp to pad 39A, starting just after sunrise on Friday. SpaceX raised the rocket vertically on the launch pad later that day.
Consult our Mission Status Center for comprehensive coverage of Crew Flight 2 to the International Space Station.
Below are additional photos of the launch of the Falcon 9 missile at pad 39A.
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