Falcon 9 poised to launch 12:57am ET Wednesday with Intuitive Machine’s IM-1 mission, the first flight of their Nova-C class lunar lander.The vehicle will attempt to land on the Moon’s south pole February 22, which would mark the first successful commercial lunar landing.
Tonight’s NOVA C (IM-1) mission aboard Falcon 9 will be the first time LC-39A has supported a lunar mission since 1972 with Apollo 17. Let’s go!T-0 is holding at 12:57am tonight (tomorrow). 📸 - @NASASpaceflight
3/ Trent Martin, VP, Space Systems, @Int_Machines, says they will fly around the Moon for about 24 hours before performing a descent orbit insertion.Following landing on Feb. 22, they expect to operate on the lunar surface for seven days before lunar sunset.
4/ Bill Gerstenmaier, VP of Build and Flight Reliability for @SpaceX, said the second stage of Falcon 9 was modified to allow for liquid oxygen and liquid methane loading onto the vehicle.
5/ Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron, said the weather seen during the day today will continue overnight.95% GO weather.
6/ Martin says touchdown on the 22nd regardless of if they launch on the 14, 15 and 16.
7/ Martin says the total time between orbit and touchdown is about an hour.
8/ Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for Exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters says NASA is paying just under $118 million to IM to fly their part of the mission.$11 million of that went towards developing and building the scientific instruments.
9/ Martin says once separated from the Falcon 9, the Nova-C lander doesn't go into orbit around the Earth.
10/ Gerstenmaier said the new fueling capabilities that were added to support the IM-1 mission are largely generic and can potentially be applied for future customers.
A SpaceX is set to launch Intuitive Machine's IM-1 mission, featuring a Nova-C lander, to the Moon from LC-39A during the early morning hours of February 14.Weather is 95% go for a 12:57 AM ET launch.John Sharp (@ukspacebulletin) with the details ⬇️
VERSION 1.0 - NOVA-C: IM-1 LUNAR MISSION (My Unofficial infographic poster). Some details may be updated over the next couple of days.
Standing down from tonight’s attempt due to off-nominal methane temperatures prior to stepping into methane load. Now targeting Thursday, February 15 at 1:05 a.m. ET for Falcon 9's launch of the @Int_Machines IM-1 mission from Florida → http://spacex.com/launches
SpaceX is targeting Thursday, February 15 for a Falcon 9 launch of the Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission to a lunar transfer orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 1:05 a.m. ET.
Four SpaceX rockets vertical on SpaceX's four launch pads in Florida, California, and Texas
F9/IM-1: This will be SpaceX’s 2nd Falcon 9 flight in less than eight hours following launch of 6 Space Force missile tracking and data relay satellites from the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:30pm EST (2230 UTC)
Less than two hours until Falcon 9 launches the @Int_Machines IM-1 mission from Florida. Fueling of the IM-1 lander is underway, and weather is currently 90% favorable for liftoff → http://spacex.com/launches
