As promised: Proper photos of #SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 going vertical at Kennedy Space Center just before 1730 ET / 2230 UTC. More + story: https://goo.gl/xCLCZL
Close up photos:https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1081405732107370497
About a month away from the first orbital test flight of crew Dragon
SpaceX Demo-1 Launch UpdateAnna HeineyPosted on January 10, 2019NASA and SpaceX are continuing to work on the activities leading toward the Demo-1, uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station. NASA and SpaceX are now targeting no earlier than February for the launch of Demo-1 to complete hardware testing and joint reviews. NASA and SpaceX will confirm a new target date after coordination with the Eastern Range and the International Space Station Program.
Would NASA go ahead with an important launch, the first big test of the future of American spaceflight, even if the government were still closed?"We don’t deal a lot in hypotheticals, but yes." https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/spacex-shutdown-nasa-commercial-crew/580342/ …
Another factor, though: SpaceX doesn’t have a launch license explicitly supporting a commercial crew test flight. It does have one for Dragon cargo missions at 39A that could apply, but that one expires Feb. 17. FAA isn’t issuing or modifying launch licenses during the shutdown.
RIA Novosti (not the most reliable source) is hearing from Russian sources the following dates commercial crew demo missions. Dragon: February 9 Starliner: March 28
Demo-1 is targeting no earlier than Feb. 9 for launch, a source at KSC tells me.
Obviously preliminary, but the Eastern Range is now showing the Static Fire for the DM-1 mission's Falcon 9 (B1051.1) as NET January 23, (and still showing NET February 9 as the launch date). As always, but especially this one, all very much subject to change.
Keep looking out for the rollout for the Static Fire, that may still be this week. Launch date has slipped, but is still fluid, so at a week and we'll keep following it.https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1087349123114770433I see from the discussion thread the Russians are claiming NET 16th. Concur's with the week to the right, but I would note this may move again, so don't go booking any flights.