After finishing a rehearsal for launch weekend, the four astronauts preparing to take off on Thursday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket are in good spirits and spend time with their families in Florida before leaving the planet for six months.
Forecasters with 45 US Space Force meteorological squadrons predict an 80% acceptable chance of launch at 6:11 a.m. EDT (1011 GMT) on Thursday from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The four astronauts, led by veteran NASA commander Shane Kimbrough, will fly a Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station.
Kimbrough and NASA teammate Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide of Japan and Thomas Pesquet of France – all experienced in spaceflight – fitted into their SpaceX snap clothing early Sunday and traveled in Tesla Model X SUVs. at Kennedy crew quarters at pad 39A. The astronauts used the same timeline they will follow on launch day and left the dressing room at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building shortly before 3 a.m. EDT (0700 GMT).
They reached the launch pad less than half an hour later to board the Crew Dragon Endeavor spacecraft, above the Falcon 9 rocket, 65 meters high. They then disembarked after simulating a frictional launch attempt and returned to the crew quarters for information before sunrise on Sunday.
The “dry dress rehearsal” was a practical race for astronauts and SpaceX support teams, who will help crew members get dressed and cling to the Dragon capsule.
Pesquet, a European Space Agency astronaut born in France, said Monday that everything is on track for Thursday. The mission will be the second regular spacewalk crew rotation flight by SpaceX, based on a multi-billion dollar contract with NASA, which also arranges rides to the complex for European, Japanese and Canadian astronauts.
“We’re putting the finishing touches on training,” Pesquet said Monday morning. “There are only … three days left exactly, a little less now, until the launch. Everything is going well. The rocket is ready. The spaceship is ready. ”
“We actually had a few days of margin that we didn’t need at the end, so now the rocket will only be on the launch pad today and tomorrow, just before the final preparation on Wednesday and then on Thursday we will be ready to launch,” said Pesquet, who spent 196 days in orbit on a previous trip to the space station. “The crew is happy. The crew is in excellent shape, in a high spirit. The families are here at the Cape and everything is fine. We try to enjoy our last days on Earth before leaving the planet for six months. ”
The Dragon astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth for a blow off the coast of Florida in late October.
Hoshide will take over as commander of the Space Station’s Expedition 65 crew next week, taking over from NASA astronaut Shannon Walker. Walker and her crewmates – Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi – are scheduled to return to Earth on April 28 with the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft, completing a mission launched in November.
Later this year, Pesquet will receive a line at the space station commander. Pesquet worked as a spacecraft engineer in European industry and for the French space agency, then became an airline pilot for Air France before being selected as an ESA astronaut in 2009. He first launched into space in 2016.
On his first space flight, Pesquet launched and landed on a Russian Soyuz capsule, which has a design rooted in the 1960s. He told reporters Monday that he expects a similar ride during launch on the Falcon 9 rocket, which burns the same kerosene fuels and liquid oxygen as the venerable Russian Soyuz launcher.
The Crew-2 mission is the first time SpaceX has used a reused amplifier and a Crew Dragon spacecraft for an astronaut mission.
“I don’t expect it to be bad at all,” Pesquet said. “Everyone who has flown Dragon and Falcon 9 has loved her so far. Returning to Earth is always a little rough, but it’s the same in every spacecraft. ”
He said automating the SpaceX Crew Dragon makes the vehicle safer. Under normal conditions, the capsule flies to and from the autopilot space station.
“For us, what it means is that we don’t have so many actions to do in a nominal situation,” said Pesquet, who was an instructor in cabin protocols for Air France. “Of course, in a situation outside the nominal, we must take action. But what it means is that you are available to handle the situation. Your situational awareness is just incredible.
“You have these huge big screens that show you, in every possible way, what’s going on,” Pesquet said. “The priority of information is already pre-analyzed by the system. The color coding is great. The way the information is presented is just fantastic. You always know what’s going on.
“Soyuz is incredibly reliable, but you had to make sense of all that information that was sparse and scattered in every corner of the control panel with digital and analog indicators,” Pesquet said. “That’s why the training was much longer. I think it’s wonderful. We will like it and I think it makes the system more reliable overall. ”
While forecasters predict good conditions at the launch site in Florida early Thursday, officials may have to monitor the time interval in the Atlantic Ocean.
There is a “moderate” risk of poor conditions in the landing area of the Falcon 9 amplifier’s downstream range in the Atlantic – approximately east of South Carolina – and a low probability of unfavorable winds at the upper level over the launch pad. SpaceX and NASA officials will continue to assess low winds and sea conditions in locations across the Atlantic Ocean to assess whether the conditions are acceptable for spraying the Dragon capsule in the event of an in-flight abortion.
“A wet and unstable pattern will continue over Central Florida as a frontier remains blocked in the area,” the weather team wrote in Monday morning’s forecast. “Isolated rain showers and storms are likely as low-pressure waves move along the border over the next two days.
“On Wednesday, the high pressure begins to build and push the weather to the south, during the day. By Thursday morning, high pressure will be centered near Arkansas, creating northerly gusts along the space coast, due to the pressure gradient between the high limit and the departure limit, “the foresters wrote.
“The main meteorological concern, on Thursday morning, will be these refined starting winds associated with this strong pressure gradient”
At launch time on Thursday, forecasters expect north-northeast winds of 17 to 22 mph, a temperature of about 68 degrees Fahrenheit and a few low clouds.
There is also an 80% chance of good weather for a backup launch opportunity at 5:49 am EDT (0949 GMT) on Friday.
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