SpaceX and NASA have officially given the green light for the upcoming Crew-7 astronaut mission, following a successful flight readiness review (FRR) held today. The joint mission aims to send four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station (ISS).
During the approximately seven-hour FRR, all aspects of the mission were meticulously examined, and all systems were found to be in optimal condition, paving the way for Crew-7 to launch at the end of this week. The launch is scheduled to take place atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate, announced in a post-FRR press conference, "At the conclusion of the review, everybody polled 'go,' and we're proceeding towards a launch at 3:49 am Eastern Time on Friday."
The target launch date for Crew-7 is set for Friday, August 25, at 3:49 a.m. ET, with a backup opportunity on Saturday, August 26, at 3:27 a.m. ET. The mission marks Dragon's seventh operational human spaceflight mission to the ISS.
Crew-7 is a multinational effort, encompassing four astronauts from four different nations: NASA's Jasmin Moghbeli, the mission commander; Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency, who will serve as the capsule's pilot; Konstantin Borisov of Russia's Roscosmos space agency; and Japan's Satoshi Furukawa, both of whom will assume roles as mission specialists.
The Crew-7 team arrived at KSC on Sunday, embarking on the final stages of preparation for liftoff. Ahead of the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon capsule "Endurance" were successfully transported to KSC's Pad 39A. The spacecraft previously transported NASA's Crew-3 and Crew-5 missions to and from the ISS.
Throughout their mission on the ISS, the Crew-7 astronauts will undertake a variety of science and technology demonstrations designed to facilitate human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and offer benefits to life on Earth.
The NASA and SpaceX broadcast for the Crew-7 mission will go live online approximately one hour before launch. If all goes according to schedule, Crew-7 is projected to reach the ISS around 2 a.m. EDT on Saturday, August 26. Video is linked below.
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About the Author
Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
