The SpaceX Crew-1 mission: Everything you need to know about the historical launch

Despite one Global infection, An achievement Hurricane season NASA and SpaceX are determined to get the historic Crew-1 mission off the ground from Florida on Saturday, having to replace complex rocket engines. Four astronauts fly to the International Space Station in a crew dragon capsule on top of a Falcon 9 rocket Success of the Demo-2 mission And Its historic splash town And will set some important space travel milestones.

Here are the answers to your most important questions about work.

Wait, what’s that about engines?

The target release date for the Crew-1 has been pushed back from late October, following NASA and SpaceX noticing some unexpected behavior from a few Falcon 9 engines. Launch the military GPS satellite. With two seconds left in the countdown that task was cleared The investigation later revealed A small relief valve clogged the fort with a lacquer bit. This blockage caused the two engines of the rocket to be pre-tried and fired, which could damage the engines, which did not stop automatically.

SpaceX found that the engines in the rocket to be used for the Crew-1 had “the same tendencies”. The release date has been changed to November, the engines have been changed, and now both NASA and SpaceX are satisfied that this is the time.

Well, why is Crew-1 a big deal?

Crew-1 is part of the climax NASA’s Commercial Crew Project It has been for many years. For decades, NASA has generally developed its own rockets and spacecraft domestically with the help of contractors, but the Commercial Crew program works much like chartering an aircraft. Companies like SpaceX and Boeing have vehicles designed to be used by other customers, and NASA can ride on them.

This is a major step forward in bringing space travel back to American soil. Since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011 Demo-2 mission that sent two NASA astronauts to ISS in a crew dragon earlier this year, NASA relies on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to send its astronauts into orbit.

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SpaceX is set to launch its first astronauts into space

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The Demo-2 was considered a successful demonstration of the Crew Dragon and is seen by NASA as the first official crew rotation mission off the U.S. coast since retiring the Crew-1.

“It’s exciting, especially since for the first time we’ve put four people in a space capsule, Crew-1, as humans, it’s so awesome.” NASA’s Anthony Vareha explained, Leading Aviation Director for the mission. “This is the longest mission of an American capsule.”

Who flies in the Crew Dragon?

NASA’s Crew Dragon Commander will be with the historic aircraft Michael Hopkins, Pilot Victor Clover, And Mission Specialist Shannon Walker, Japan joins Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Mission Specialist Sochi Nokuchi To the space station.

Until now, three people on a Soyuz capsule have been subjected to a stalled ride, but the crew dragon can accommodate up to seven people (compared to the spacecraft that flew up to eight people), and the voyage for these four astronauts seems relatively vast.

How long is the trip?

Crew-1 members are embarking on a six-month scientific journey that will inspire people involved in the world of orbit and space science, as the four-member team’s journey will make more hands available at the station to do more experiments in microgravity.

“It will be exciting to see how much work we can do while we are there,” Hopkins said Monday.

But first, of course, the astronauts have to go there. The actual journey for the ISS takes about eight and a half hours from the start of Saturday evening to the docking with the station early on Sunday.

How do I see that?

Right here. NASA and SpaceX, which are currently set up, will stream this release 4:49 p.m. (7:49 pm and ET) Saturday, November 14 from Launch Complex 39AV at the Kennedy Space Center.

NASA TV will broadcast this release And on Docking Sunday, we take a livestream and you can catch it below.