NASA Crew-4 is scheduled to launch early on Wednesday in the United States, according to SpaceX. The launch follows the successful completion of the Crew Dragon Axiom-1 mission. It is the first expedition to the International Space Station entirely funded by private investors.
NASA will broadcast the launch live from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The launch was set for 3:52 a.m. ET (12:52 a.m. PT) on Wednesday.
According to a Monday update from NASA, there's a 90% likelihood of acceptable weather for the planned liftoff time. You may watch the footage right here in Science Times (video embedded below) or on NASA's YouTube channel.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Crew-4 mission, Monday, April 25, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission is the fourth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
SpaceX To Launch New Set of Astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA
Crew-4 is SpaceX's fourth operational human spaceflight mission to the International Space Station for NASA.
As part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which aims to employ privately built spacecraft to ferry crews to low Earth orbit, the company has been carrying humans to the space station.
SpaceX launched its first crew to the International Space Station in 2020 on the company's Crew Dragon spaceship, and has been steadily increasing the number of crewed missions since then.
Two experienced pilots are on board: NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who have previously visited the International Space Station.
Two newcomers will join them for this trip. They are NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Bob Hines, who were both selected as astronauts in 2017.
Watkins' mission will also make history since she will be the first Black woman to serve as a long-term crew member on the International Space Station.
"This is certainly an important milestone, I think both for our agency and for the country," Watkins said of her flight per The Verge.
She also believes that this recent milestone is a tribute to the legacy of the Black women astronauts that have come before her.
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"And so I'm honored to be just a small part of that legacy moving forward," she added.
Crew-4 is taking place less than two days after SpaceX returned from the International Space Station with another crew of four, albeit that crew did not contain any government flyers.
SpaceX flew four private astronauts to the International Space Station on a Crew Dragon on April 8th for Axiom Space.
This commercial aerospace company has contracted with SpaceX to fly a series of human spaceflight flights to the space station.
Most Axiom flyers paid a projected $55 million for their seats on the Crew Dragon in exchange for agreeing to conduct experiments while aboard the station and assisting Axiom in developing guidelines for future launches of people to commercial space stations.
Ax-1 Successfully Returns Home
Meanwhile, CNN reported that the first all-private trip to the International Space Station returned home on Monday. The astronauts splashed down off the coast of Florida, bringing an end to a mission that had gone on for a week longer than intended.
The splashdown return was the mission's most perilous part.
As it plunged back into the thickest section of Earth's atmosphere at a speed of more than 17,000 miles per hour, the Crew Dragon capsule's exterior heated up to roughly 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit for the final descent stage.
The passengers were covered by a heat shield inside the spacecraft cabin. The temperature should have been kept below 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
As it plunged toward the Atlantic Ocean, the Crew Dragon unfurled sets of parachutes.
Rescue teams stationed near the splashdown location lifted the spacecraft out of the water and onto a special boat known as the "Dragon's Nest," where the crew underwent final safety checks before disembarking.
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