NASA to now air SpaceX Demo-2 mission at 11am Saturday

NASA has provided updates to the live coverage of its landmark SpaceX Demo-2 test flight, saying the full mission coverage will now begin at 11am EDT on May 30.

SpaceX Demo-2 will be the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The first commercially built and operated American rocket and spacecraft will carry NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the International Space Station. Hurley will be spacecraft commander and Behnken will be the joint operations commander.

The spacecraft is scheduled to dock to the space station at 10:29am on May 31.

The targeted time for the launch is now 3:22pm. The first launch attempt, which was made on Wednesday, was scrubbed due to bad weather caused by Tropical Storm Bertha 16 minutes and 53 seconds prior to launch.

The full mission coverage, which will include prelaunch and launch activities for the test flight, will air live on NASA Television and NASA’s website. Numerous other platforms will also air the event.

Grammy Award-winning singer Kelly Clarkson will give a special performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the prelaunch.

SpaceX Demo-2 will be the first crewed orbital spaceflight launched from the US since the final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, in 2011, on which Hurley was the pilot. It will also be the first two-person orbital spaceflight launched from the US since STS-4 in 1982.

Behnken and Hurley were announced as the primary crew on August 3, 2018. Both astronauts are veterans of the Space Shuttle program. The Demo-2 flight will be the third trip to space for both of them.

“This will be SpaceX’s final test flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and will provide critical data on the performance of the Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon spacecraft, and ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking, and landing operations,” says the NASA media advisory. “The test flight also will provide valuable data toward certification of SpaceX’s crew transportation system for regular flights carrying astronauts to and from the space station.”

The advisory adds, “SpaceX currently is readying the hardware for the first space station crew rotational mission, which would happen after data from this test flight is reviewed for certification.”