27.05.2020
LIVE-Frams von NASA-TV: Launch of SpaceX First Crewed Flight Dragon DM-2-Mission
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Update: 22.30 MESZ
NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Launch Rescheduled to Saturday Due to Weather
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 28.05.2020
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Quelle: AS
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Scrub! Historic launch of NASA astronauts on SpaceX Crew Dragon will have to wait
Despite checking off milestone after milestone, inclement weather around Kennedy Space Center came out ahead Wednesday, forcing NASA and SpaceX to scrub the historic launch of astronauts.
Veteran astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley had to stand down from their 4:33 p.m. launch from pad 39A, a mission that would have taken their Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station after a nearly decade-long hiatus in American crewed flight. The former space shuttle astronauts went through the paces for their mission, including a traditional breakfast of steak and eggs, suit-up at the historic Operations and Checkout Building, and a 20-minute ride to pad 39A in two Tesla SUVs.
The next opportunity to launch will be 3:22 p.m. Saturday, followed by another at 3 p.m. Sunday. The weather for both backup dates stands at 60% “go,” according to the Space Force’s latest forecast.
More: Space-loving crowds arrive early despite downpours — and cheer in spite of disappointment
In post-scrub discussions with the astronauts on the pad, a SpaceX employee in mission control said the launch criteria violated by weather would most likely have cleared just 10 minutes after the planned launch time.
"We could see some raindrops on the windows," Hurley said after the scrub, still strapped into Crew Dragon while propellant was unloaded from the 230-foot-tall rocket below him. "We understand that everybody's probably a little bit bummed out. It's just part of the deal."
"Everybody was ready today and we appreciate that. The ship was great. We'll do it again on Saturday," he said.
Falcon 9 has to launch at exactly the specified time for ISS missions. As the space station slingshots around Earth at 17,000 mph some 250 miles in orbit, the rocket has to help the capsule achieve a precise intercept trajectory. A delay would mean it couldn't "catch up."
The Space Coast has dealt with dreary weather for several days, but Wednesday seemed to stand out, especially at KSC. Wave after wave of showers, gusts, and lightning were somehow topped when the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for a region just north of pad 39A. No tornado formed, but a spectacular shelf cloud rolled over the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building and launch pad, keeping weather rules “in the red.”
Visitors to KSC on Wednesday included President Trump, Vice President Pence, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and at least half a dozen current and former astronauts. As the president flew in from Washington, D.C., he got a unique view of pad 39A as Air Force One pilots flew around the pad and Vehicle Assembly Building, finally landing at the former Shuttle Landing Facility.
Trump was scheduled to speak at a post-launch event, but did not do so when the mission was scrubbed. He tweeted that he plans on returning Saturday for the next attempt.
More: Launch day updates: What's going on around Brevard County as SpaceX, NASA prepare for historic launch?
Before the attempt, however, he did speak with reporters and said it was a "labor of love" for Pence, who heads the National Space Council.
"I just want to say that this is a very exciting day for our country," Trump said. "We have been at this long and hard for three-and-a-half years."
The Commercial Crew Program, designed to return human spaceflight capabilities to the U.S. after the end of the space shuttle program, began in 2011. It has since selected SpaceX and Boeing spacecraft to deliver astronauts to the ISS.
"America needs to lead the world, sir, and you put us in the position to do that," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told the president.
Quelle: Florida Today
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Elon Musk praises NASA astronauts for their "nerves of steel" ahead of historic SpaceX launch
Update: Wednesday's launch was scrubbed due to bad weather. SpaceX and NASA have rescheduled the launch for Saturday. Read the earlier story below.
The world is readying for the next big leap in space travel as SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to blast off Wednesday afternoon, carrying two NASA astronauts into space where they will board the International Space Station. SpaceX founder Elon Musk called it the "culmination of a dream" as he and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tensely await the scheduled liftoff, a decade in the making.
"I'm the chief engineer," Musk told CBS News' Mark Strassmann. "So I'd just like to say if it goes right, it's credit to the SpaceX-NASA team. If it goes wrong, it's my fault."
SpaceX has had 19 successful launches of cargo to the International Space Station, but for the first time, the commercial company will carry people — NASA's Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.
The launch is unquestionably Musk's most pivotal test for SpaceX, and he has not let the gravity of it slip his mind.
"Thousands of things that can go wrong, and only one thing that can go right," he said.
The responsibility weighs heavily on Musk. He said after doing anything he can to "improve the quality of success" and make sure the astronauts arrive safely, he can do little but sit and wait like the rest of the world.
"I really kinda have to kind of mentally block it, because otherwise it would be emotionally impossible to deal with," he said of the intensity in the moment.
Musk praised astronauts Behnken and Hurley for their "nerves of steel" ahead of the mission.
"I was asking them just a few hours ago. I was like, 'You guys feel good about this? You know, is there anything you want us to do?' And they're cool as a cucumber," he said.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is reusable, a milestone breakthrough that slashes the dominant cost of launching. On Wednesday, it stood on launch pad 39A, the same pad that sent Apollo 11 to the moon.
"39A is like Times Square. It's not just opening a play on Broadway. It's opening a play on Times Square, okay? It's the best pad in the world," Musk said.
He called it an "incredible honor" to share a launchpad with the same rocket that launched Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon.
"This is a dream come true. In fact, it feels surreal," Musk said. "If you asked me when starting SpaceX if this would happen, I'd be like, 1% — 0.1% chance."
It's a dream nearly two decades in the making — since SpaceX was founded in 2002, it revolutionized the business model of space travel with its fast innovation and costs much lower than NASA launches of the past.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said SpaceX's kind of corporate innovation is key to NASA's future, and hopes the launch will get Americans excited about space again.
"This is the beginning of a commercial marketplace in space," he said.
There is no doubt a revived interest in space, between the historic SpaceX launch and NASA's recent partnership with Tom Cruise to shoot a movie aboard the ISS.
Musk said he was "supportive" of anything NASA does "that captures the imagination of the public."
Bridenstine, who admitted he became a Navy pilot after watching Cruise's 1986 hit "Top Gun" in the sixth grade, set high hopes for what they can give to the next generation.
"That happened in my life and it changed my life," he said. "Is he going to inspire the next Elon Musk? That's the question. And if he can do that, then we win."
Quelle: CBS
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Update: 30.05.2020 / 8.00 MESZ
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Demo-2, Next Attempt NET Saturday
Quelle: AS
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Update: 19.30 MESZ:
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Update: 20.00 MESZ
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21.45 MESZ
Quelle: SpaceX