A pre-launch static fire test and dry dress rehearsal with the crew are on tap for tomorrow. SpaceX and NASA officials will meet on Monday to conduct a Launch Readiness Review and clear or not the vehicles and systems for launch.
Falcon 9 and Dragon vertical on Launch Complex 39A; targeting Wednesday, October 5 for launch of the Crew-5 mission → spacex.com/launches/crew-…
012236Z OCT 22HYDROPAC 2734/22(74,75).INDIAN OCEAN.DNC 03, DNC 04.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS 051635Z TO 051710Z OCT, ALTERNATE 061613Z TO 061648Z AND 071547Z TO 071622Z OCT IN AREA BOUND BY 47-58.00S 115-54.00E, 45-57.00S 118-03.00E, 33-44.00S 095-37.00E, 35-45.00S 093-50.00E.2. CANCEL THIS MSG 071722Z OCT 22.
SpaceX and NASA are targeting no earlier than Wednesday, October 5 for Falcon 9's launch of Dragon's fifth operational human spaceflight mission (Crew-5) to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The instantaneous launch window opens at 12:00 p.m. ET, 16:00 UTC, with a backup opportunity available on Thursday, October 6 at 11:38 a.m. ET, 15:38 UTC.The Dragon spacecraft supporting this mission previously flew Crew-3 to and from the space station. Following stage separation, Falcon 9's first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct over 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations in areas such as human health and lunar fuel systems.The webcast for the Crew-5 mission will go live about 4 hours before liftoff.
Media Briefing: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 Flight Readiness Review (Sept. 26, 2022)https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZTFV23qfvpU
The crew will stay docked to the Space Station for about five months. Right now we're looking at about 145 days or so. The teams are working that and as we continue through the expedition we'll refine that date.
Crew-4: ~166 days on station; ~168 days mission durationDo we know why the Crew-5 mission is planned to be so short?
Sunset shots of Falcon 9 and Dragon at Launch Complex 39A
Quote from: kdhilliard on 10/02/2022 02:06 amCrew-4: ~166 days on station; ~168 days mission durationDo we know why the Crew-5 mission is planned to be so short?Crew-4 was only going to be about four months before it got extended when the seat swap went through.
Eric Berger, Ars Technica: Just a real quick question on the booster. I know there was an issue in west Texas when, I think, part of it may have struck an overpass. Just curious if we could get a little more details about what actually happened and what was done to remediate that issue to give you confidence that it's ready to fly.Steve Stich, Commercial Crew Program manager: The booster has a couple different configurations as it's being transported. It was not lowered properly for this one bridge on the way to McGregor, Texas for testing. We ended up having to replace a few components. The interstage, which is a composite component, which was damaged the most, and that was the part that made contact with the bridge. We went in and inspected lots of different areas including the top of the LOX tank. We actually did a pressure test and made sure that it was holding pressure just fine. We replaced a number of avionics components in that upper area around that dome area where the contact was made. And then SpaceX did a great job, working side by side with our team through the whole thing. We tried to understand what loads could have gone into the rest of the vehicle -- shock load across the vehicle. And then, of course, SpaceX takes every stage and puts it through a set of structural tests, where they put the loads of it that it would see in flight, including the loading of propellant. And then ultimately they load it with propellant and then test fire that stage. And all that work passed, and we convinced ourselves that we've got a good vehicle to go fly.Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX Senior Principal Flight Reliability Engineer: We also replaced a grid fin and a grid fin actuator. I think it was fortuitous that the event occurred on the way to Texas that allowed us to do all this work in Texas before we did the loading test and before we did the normal static fires. So this rocket went through its normal full-up testing post all the repairs to make sure that it is really ready to go. We also took some components off and we actually then looked at the shock loading of some light components to make sure that we had proper margin. We did some extra pressure checks on some valves here at the Cape just to make sure that any of those valves were not damaged by the loading and shock event. So this booster is perfectly ready to go fly.
A multinational crew headed to launch pad 39A this morning for a countdown dress rehearsal ahead of their planned Wednesday launch to the International Space Station. Watch a live view of the pad: youtu.be/gN50Gj7zejY
NASA update from September 30, 2022:COMMENT COMMENT | EVENT | TIG | ORB | DV | HA | HP |COMMENT | | GMT | | M/S | KM | KM |COMMENT | | | | (F/S) | (NM) | (NM) |COMMENT =============================================================================COMMENT COMMENT Crew5_Launch 278:16:00:56.000 0.0 421.0 413.5COMMENT (0.0) (227.3) (223.3)COMMENT COMMENT Crew5_Dock 279:20:57:18.000 0.0 420.8 413.6COMMENT (0.0) (227.2) (223.3)COMMENT COMMENT Crew4_undock 285:23:06:00.000 0.0 420.7 412.9COMMENT (0.0) (227.2) (222.9)COMMENT COMMENT =============================================================================
