SpaceX F9/Crew Dragon : Crew-9 : CCSFS SLC-40 : 28 September 2024 (17:17 UTC)

[phantomdj]

If Crew-9 launches Aug 18th does that mean Starliner will return before this? If not it's going to be very crowded.

[striver]

If not it's going to be very crowded.

ISS have only 2 docking ports for Dragon and Starliner. And they are both occupied.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/launchphoto/status/1819472946424951244

Crew-9 poses during the Dragon test-drive, also known as the Crew Equipment Interface Test, at Kennedy Space Center during final training.

[eeergo]

Not noted in the tweets above is the comment in passing by Stitch that the Falcon 9's first stage for this flight had some "challenges" during processing because of water intrusions, with (remarkably) no further elaboration or questions.

Nothing particularly "remarkable" about the fact that there was no further elaboration. Falcon 9 is a proprietary vehicle. NASA can only go into details or specifics if SpaceX allows them to.

This is not the space shuttle. Buying a service instead of owning the vehicles will always result in transparency being lost.

Suffice to say that no, that isn't a natural law, and it can *certainly* be pushed. There's on the one hand nothing proprietary in stating what kind of impact was expected from the "challenges" during processing, why or when in the flow the water intrusions happened, the reason they were important, or what kind of schedule slippage they were fearing if worst came to worst. On the other hand, it was also surprising that a potentially schedule-challenging event we don't hear so often about (even if in the end it turns out to be a fortunately mild observation and nothing more), in a crewed US vehicle no less, did not get any kind of follow-up on by any media, when it was candidly shared upfront by NASA with no prodding required, and plenty more asinine questions (which BTW were more invasive regarding potential proprietary information) were formulated instead.

[AStick]

Minor correction please - launch zulu time will be 09:39 if it launches on 18 August.

[zubenelgenubi: Thank you.  Thread title edited.]

[dglow]

NASA likely to significantly delay the launch of Crew 9 due to Starliner issues [Aug 5]

NASA is planning to significantly delay the launch of the Crew 9 mission to the International Space Station due to ongoing concerns about the Starliner spacecraft currently attached to the station.

While the space agency has not said anything publicly, sources say NASA should announce the decision this week. Officials are contemplating moving the Crew-9 mission from its current date of August 18 to September 24, a significant slip.

…

At issue is the performance of the small reaction control system thrusters in proximity to the space station. If the right combination of them fail before Starliner has moved sufficiently far from the station, Starliner could become uncontrollable and collide with the space station. The thrusters are also needed later in the flight back to Earth to set up the critical de-orbit burn and entry in Earth's atmosphere.

…

The Crew 9 delay is relevant to the Starliner dilemma for a couple of reasons. One, it gives NASA more time to determine the flight-worthiness of Starliner. However, there is also another surprising reason for the delay—the need to update Starliner’s flight software. Three separate, well-placed sources have confirmed to Ars that the current flight software on board Starliner cannot perform an automated undocking from the space station and entry into Earth’s atmosphere.

[zubenelgenubi]

Cross-post re: possible launch delay into September:

[YouTube link in original post]

At 26:00, Bill Spetch states there's a 16 day window for Crew-9 from August 18th before Pad 39A is switched to the Europa mission.

Confirmed in today's Crew-9 press conference: SLC-40 still not certified by NASA, won't be until September.

And again, this doesn't necessarily mean that Polaris can't use SLC-40; they don't need NASA's approval.  During the presser, Jeff Foust asked to clarify whether Polaris could go off SLC-40 before NASA's certification, but Sarah gave a non-answer.

Crew-9 may move to SLC-40.

However, the launch complex must be NASA certified for human spaceflight first, at least for a NASA launch.

What better reason to complete certification in time for a September 24 Crew-9 launch?

Edited

[zubenelgenubi]

SFN Launch Schedule, updated August 5:
Launch TBD, launch site TBD
(listed after the September launch entries)

[Eagandale4114]

https://twitter.com/sciguyspace/status/1820908140197466265

There should be an announcement for the new date later today.

[JayWee]

And it's official:

https://twitter.com/Commercial_Crew/status/1820914859619270980

#Crew9 launch update:

NASA and @SpaceX are targeting NET Tuesday, Sept. 24, for the launch of the agency’s Crew-9 mission to the @Space_Station
.
Info: http://go.nasa.gov/4fCLae2

[ddspaceman]

NASA Adjusts Crew-9 Launch Date for Operational Flexibility

Elyna Niles-Carnes Posted on August 6, 2024

NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 24, for the launch of the agency’s Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station.

This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked to the orbiting laboratory. Starliner ground teams are taking their time to analyze the results of recent docked hot-fire testing, finalize flight rationale for the spacecraft’s integrated propulsion system, and confirm system reliability ahead of Starliner’s return to Earth. NASA and Boeing continue to evaluate the spacecraft’s readiness, and no decisions have been made regarding Starliner’s return.

The Crew-9 launch adjustment also deconflicts the next SpaceX rotation with the upcoming Soyuz handover targeted for no earlier than mid-September. Teams are working to prepare the Crew-9 mission to be ready to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to deconflict with pad preparations for NASA’s Europa Clipper mission beginning this September at nearby Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center. NASA also will adjust the launch of SpaceX’s 31st commercial resupply services mission to no earlier than mid-October.

The agency will host a media teleconference at 12:30 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, Aug. 7, with agency leadership to discuss ongoing operations, including NASA’s Crew-9, Crew-8, and Crew Flight Test missions.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/crew-9/2024/08/06/nasa-adjusts-crew-9-launch-date-for-operational-flexibility/

[StraumliBlight]

Media teleconference to discuss ongoing International Space Station operations, including the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test and NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission (audio only)

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/haygenwarren/status/1820969313274331332

Along with three NASA astronauts, cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will be aboard the next SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to fly to the ISS.

Sawyer Rosenstein (@thenasaman) recently spoke with Gorbunov about how a cosmonaut trains for a SpaceX flight ⬇️

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/08/cosmonaut-training/

[StraumliBlight]

From the Media Teleconference today:
 • Crew 9's booster will fly first on a Starlink mission to ensure that the moisture intrusion into its fuel and LOX tank had no effect. The tanks had to be dried out and some components replaced.
 • No decision has been made about Starliner crew return yet (expected mid August) but the plan would be to fly with 2 Astronauts and bring spacesuits up for Butch and Sunni, foam inserts for their seats and metallic ballast for weight distribution.
 • Then return in February 2025 as a normal crew rotation with 4 astronauts.
 • Mentioned there would be training required in the advent of a 2 man crew.
 • Starliner needs to undock first before Crew-9, to free up the docking port.
 • Crew-9 will have a week overlap with Crew-8 for handover before it departs.
 • After Crew-8 departs, Crew-9 will relocate from the forward port to the zenith port, to free it up for CRS-31.
 • NASA not ready to announce which 2 crew members would be removed if the option is taken.
 • Modified second stage (with transducer and sense line removed) has successfully completed testing at McGregor and will be brought up at the Program Control Board tomorrow (Thursday).
 • NASA began contingency planning with SpaceX in early July. Adding more seats to Crew-9 was rejected due to impact on life support and dealing with seats rotating during reentry. Insufficient time to make changes.

[Yellowstone10]

• NASA not ready to announce which 2 crew members would be removed if the option is taken.

It would seem like Gorbunov has to fly, in order to maintain three ROS crewmembers - unless Roscosmos is able to bump Pettit off MS-26 at short notice and replace him with one of the Russian backup crew.

[John_Marshall]

It would seem like Gorbunov has to fly, in order to maintain three ROS crewmembers - unless Roscosmos is able to bump Pettit off MS-26 at short notice and replace him with one of the Russian backup crew.

They could presumably move Gorbunov back to Soyuz FE2.

[zubenelgenubi]

My bold:

Ben Cooper's Launch Photography Viewing Guide; 1st update August 13:

The next SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Worldview Legion 3 & 4 satellites for Maxar from pad 40 on August 15 at 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EDT. The first stage will land back at the Cape about eight minutes after launch. A Falcon 9 will launch a Starlink batch from pad 40 on August 19 at 5:43-9:43 a.m. EDT. A Falcon 9 will launch the Polaris Dawn spaceflight participant mission from pad 39A on August 26 at 3:30-7:00 a.m. EDT. Sunrise is 6:58 a.m. Upcoming launches include more Starlink batches. A Falcon 9 will launch the BlueBird-1 mobile communication satellite for AST Mobile on early September. The first stage will land back at the Cape about eight minutes after launch. A Falcon 9 will launch the Galileo L13 navigation satellite mission for Europe on September TBD. A Falcon 9 will launch Crew-9 to the International Space Station on September 24 around 2:30 p.m. EDT The first stage will land back at the Cape about eight minutes after launch.

[TALsite]

It would seem like Gorbunov has to fly, in order to maintain three ROS crewmembers - unless Roscosmos is able to bump Pettit off MS-26 at short notice and replace him with one of the Russian backup crew.

They could presumably move Gorbunov back to Soyuz FE2.

The movement seems logical. 

Just guessing...
But flying a Russian cosmonaut instead Pettit, given the amount of training needed, (maybe) it could be more logical assigning Zubritski thas has fresh training as Soyuz MS-26 backup.

Don't know how much time had Crew 10 trained together, but you can move Gorbunov on Crew 10 and Peskov to the next flight.

[John_Marshall]

The movement seems logical. 

Just guessing...
But flying a Russian cosmonaut instead Pettit, given the amount of training needed, (maybe) it could be more logical assigning Zubritski thas has fresh training as Soyuz MS-26 backup.

Don't know how much time had Crew 10 trained together, but you can move Gorbunov on Crew 10 and Peskov to the next flight.

I hadn't thought of that. Zubritskiy could work, unless it would be a problem that he has been training at FE1 rather than FE2.

[cohberg]

Not sure if this is public, but the current plan for Crew-9, if they launch with two astronauts as a rescue mission for Starliner, is to fly with Zena Cardman as commander and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov as pilot.

https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1825547079562985696