Update: Liftoff of Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon Endurance carrying NASA's SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station at 3:27 a.m. EDT Saturday. Shortly after, the first-stage booster landed back at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Landing Zone 1.
Thursday night at Kennedy Space Center, NASA and SpaceX teams stood down from a first attempt to launch three astronauts and a cosmonaut to the International Space Station, setting the stage for another attempt this weekend. OEM Hospital Clothing
The next opportunity to send NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov to the space station for a six-month stay is planned for 3:27 a.m. Saturday from pad 39A at KSC.
A little less than 18 hours later the same day, SpaceX teams are set to attempt a launch doubleheader with the company's latest Falcon 9 Starlink mission slated to fly from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Follow FLORIDA TODAY's Space Team live launch coverage beginning three hours before the liftoff of Crew-7.
Just before 11 p.m. Thursday, the countdown clock at KSC paused, and NASA confirmed the called-off attempt shortly after. SpaceX later posted to social media that the "new launch date provides teams additional time to complete and discuss analysis."
NASA on Friday morning said in a blog post that "after performing an extra data review, teams decided to take additional time to reconfirm required factors of safety and operational margin on one of the Dragon spacecraft’s environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) components."
"All ECLSS valves on the Crew-7 and Crew-6 Dragon spacecraft are performing normally, and performed as expected in all preflight testing," the blog post said. "The new launch date provides teams additional time to complete the analysis and thoroughly review the necessary data ahead of launch."
The latest weather report from the Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron projected conditions around the spaceport to be 95% "go" for a Saturday liftoff. Only a slight chance of cumulus clouds was listed as a concern.
Rocket launch schedule:Upcoming Florida launches and landings
Meet the crew:NASA's SpaceX Crew-7 astronauts land in Florida ahead of liftoff to the space station
When it does launch, the Crew-7 mission will be the first of NASA's Commercial Crew Program to fly with only one U.S. astronaut onboard and the first time a foreign astronaut will pilot a Crew Dragon since missions with SpaceX began in 2020.
After liftoff — in a first-time occurrence for a NASA crewed mission — the Falcon 9 first-stage booster will somersault and target a landing back at the Cape's Landing Zone 1 about eight minutes after liftoff which will generate middle-of-the-night sonic booms.
After separation from the Falcon 9's upper stage 12 minutes into the flight, the Dragon Endurance spacecraft and its four occupants will spend about 30 hours in orbit "chasing" the space station. An autonomous docking attempt is slated for 8:50 a.m. Sunday.
Another SpaceX mission, Starlink 6-11, is set to fly from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station a little less than 18 hours after the Crew-7 liftoff. That mission is set to liftoff at 9:05 p.m. EDT Saturday from the Cape's Launch Complex 40. If needed, teams have three additional opportunities during the window, which extends until 11:04 p.m.
Space Force forecasters last projected conditions for that mission to be 95% "go."
"With little moisture to tap into, northeasterly flow will bring only very isolated low-topped showers over the Space Coast," a report released Friday said. "Therefore, the primary concern during the launch window will be the Cumulus Cloud Rule."
For the latest schedule updates, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
Contact Jamie Groh at JGroh@floridatoday.com and follow her on X.com at @AlteredJamie.
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