NASA will meet on May 27, 2020 at 10:33 p.m. Paris time to follow the very first manned SpaceX flight to the ISS with a Crew Dragon capsule. However, weather conditions are fairly uncertain, according to the U.S. military.
When does takeoff take place?
The date is set for May 27, 2020, at 4.33 p.m. (local time). In French metropolis, it will then be 10:33 p.m.. A late schedule, but acceptable to see the event live without having your eyes in the middle of the figure the next day. The flight will take place in the United States from the Kennedy Space Center, a space launch complex located along the waterfront in Florida. The first stage of the rocket is to be retrieved over the Atlantic Ocean.
However, there is uncertainty about the schedule, because the weather conditions are not favorable. The 2020 season of tropical storms and cyclones in the Atlantic, which is launched, promises to be more intense than usual and the recent weather reports carried out by the American army announce delicate takeoff conditions, with showers, thunderstorms and a thick cloud cover.
The weather conditions, evaluated on May 23 at 40% favorable, were revalued at 60% on May 26, before’be reduced to 50% in the middle of the afternoon of May 27. That being said, lare preparations for shooting continue.
Today, @NASAIt’s @SpaceX Crew Dragon mission launches to the @Space_Station, marking the first time we’ve launched American astronauts from U.S. soil since 2011
12:15 p.m. ET – Coverage begins
4:33 p.m. ET – Liftoff
7:30 p.m. ET – Post-Launch Conference???? https://t.co/YeWrpz41EN pic.twitter.com/jjt6d7PkCW
– NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) May 27, 2020
Where to watch the launch live?
This first manned flight by SpaceX can be followed on the company website, but also on that of the NASA, since two of its astronauts take part in this decisive mission. It is possible to see the takeoff directly in this article, thanks to the video players below. As a sign of the very special importance of this mission, a direct will also be offered in France.
The YouTube channel Stardust will organize a live show, along with another videographer, Hugo Lisoir, but also Marie-Ange Sanguy, the editor-in-chief of Espace & Exploration, and Julia Bergeron, of the English-language NASA Spaceflight site. The video dedicated to the event is added at the end of the article. Details of the evening are also provided. It will start at 9:30 p.m., until the launch itself.
What is the mission?
This flight must be used to definitively qualify the ability of SpaceX to operate manned flights between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS), in order to give the United States autonomy of access to the outer environment. Since 2011, the US has had the obligation to rely on Russia with the withdrawal of the space shuttle, which naturally upsets Washington.
This flight is therefore doubly historic: on the one hand, it allows the United States to detach from Russia to send personnel into space, after almost ten years of interruption (in 2011, the space shuttle program ceased ). On the other hand, it launches SpaceX in the deep end, making the company a trusted partner to manage the most sensitive mission: to send humans into space.
This first manned flight by SpaceX will be done in reduced numbers, since the capsule will only accommodate two astronauts, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, when there is potentially room for seven people. It’s not just a classic crew rotation – it will happen later, with another group – but of a final test after years of preparation.
This remains a great first. Even a small failure (the capsule fails to go into space, for example) would send a terrible signal.
If all goes well, NASA and SpaceX can then start organizing crew rotations later in the year, sharing firing ranges with the Russian spacecraft Soyuz. There is no reason that it should go wrong: SpaceX has been refueling the ISS since 2012 with an uninhabited capsule, which has given it valuable experience for its new responsibilities, and the Nasa has given its final green light the weekend before the flight.
NASA has worked for several years to open access to the ISS to the private sector. In terms of crew rotations, the US space agency is also working with Boeing, which designs its own capsule: Starliner. NASA is somewhat disinterested in the low Earth orbit, where the ISS is located, as its attention is increasingly focused on the Moon and Mars, two much more ambitious objectives. As companies are able to take over today, a transfer of responsibility is starting to take place.
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