The official crew portrait of the SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts representing NASA’s Business Crew Program. From left are, Pilot Robert Hines, Mission Experts Samantha Cristoforetti and Jessica Watkins, and Commander Kjell Lindgren. Hines, Watkins, and Lindgren are NASA astronauts and Cristoforetti is an ESA (European House Company) astronaut. Credit: NASA
NASA and SpaceX are now aiming for a 3: 52 a.m. EDT launch of the company’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the Global House Put of residing from Start Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy House Heart in Florida on Wednesday, April 27, 2022.
Teams opted to keep off a skill April 26 launch till later in the week, when home residing placement and orbital mechanics are extra favorable. Crew-4 can score one other launch opportunity on Thursday, April 28, because the climate remains a map back heading into subsequent week.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts, from left, Jessica Watson, Bob Hines, and Kjell Lindgren, and ESA (European House Company) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti stand launch air Kennedy House Heart’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for the length of a dry costume rehearsal on April 20, 2022. Named Freedom by the Crew-4 crew, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon will lift the astronauts to the Global House Put of residing as phase of NASA’s Business Crew Program. Liftoff will seemingly be powered by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Crew-4 will seemingly be the first spaceflight for Hines and Watkins and the second flight for Lindgren and Cristoforetti. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
For a Crew-4 launch Wednesday, April 27, NASA will host a prelaunch files teleconference at approximately 9: 30 p.m. Monday, April 25, with the following contributors:
Steve Stich, manager, Business Crew Program, NASA Kennedy
Joel Montalbano, manager, Global House Put of residing Program, NASA Johnson
Zeb Scoville, flight director, Flight Operations Directorate, Johnson
Jessica Jensen, vice president, customer operations and integration, SpaceX
Frank de Winne, manager, Global House Put of residing Program, ESA
Arlena Moses, launch climate officer, U.S. House Drive 45th Climate Squadron
Further adjustments to the Crew-4 launch date would possibly perhaps well be crucial in the event inclement climate prevents an on time splashdown of the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) at the second docked to the home residing. Ax-1, the first all deepest astronaut mission to the residing, now is centered to undock from the orbital complex at 6: 35 p.m. Saturday, April 23, and splashdown at 1: 46 p.m. Sunday, April 24, off the waft of Florida. The Ax-1 crew and Dragon spacecraft remain wholesome at the residing.
The Crew-4 flight will lift NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, mission commander, Robert Hines, pilot, and Jessica Watkins, mission specialist and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who will back as a mission specialist, to the home residing for a science expedition mission. The astronauts will flee a brand contemporary Dragon spacecraft, named Freedom, atop a flight confirmed Falcon 9 rocket. Following docking of Crew-4, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission is expected to total an approximate five-day handover with Crew-4 sooner than undocking from the home residing and returning to Earth.