It's Just About 'Go' Time for SpaceX's 1st Crew Dragon Spaceship
By Tariq Malik 4 hours ago
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — It's almost "go" time for SpaceX's first spaceship built for NASA astronauts.
SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft is poised for a historic test flight Saturday (March 2), when it's scheduled to soar into orbit from NASA's Kennedy Space Center here atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff is set for 2:48 a.m. EST (0748 GMT).
There won't be a crew aboard this Crew Dragon test flight, but the mission — called Demo-1 — is carrying the hopes of SpaceX and NASA to once again be able to launch their astronauts on American rockets from U.S. soil. It's also carrying a spacesuit-clad test dummy nicknamed Ripley and 400 lbs. (181 kilograms) of supplies.
SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft and its Falcon 9 rocket roll out Launch Pad 39A of
NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 28, 2019 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Launch is set
for March 2.
(Image: © Joel Kowsky/NASA)
The mood among NASA's team is palpable.
"People are just ... we're ready," Joel Montalbano, NASA's deputy manager for the International Space Station program, told reporters in a prelaunch conference today (Feb. 28). "We're looking forward to the launch this weekend."
More:
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