WATCH: SpaceX Crew-2 Successfully Launch Falcon 9 Rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

By  //  April 23, 2021

Launch is targeted for 5:49 a.m. ET

LIVE VIDEO: Watch NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 Launch to the International Space Station.

BREVARD COUNTY • KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA – SpaceX and NASA are targeting Friday morning for Falcon 9’s launch of Dragon’s second six-month operational crew mission (Crew-2) to the International Space Station (ISS) from historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The instantaneous launch window opens at 5:49 a.m. EDT, 9:49 UTC, with a backup opportunity available on Monday, April 26 at 4:38 a.m. EDT, 8:38 UTC.

Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will land on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

This is the first human spaceflight mission to fly astronauts on a flight-proven Falcon 9 and Dragon.

The Falcon 9 first stage supporting this mission previously launched the Crew-1 mission in November 2020, and the Dragon spacecraft previously flew Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to and from the International Space Station during SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission in 2020.

As part of the Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet will fly aboard the Dragon spacecraft during the Crew-2 mission.

On Saturday, April 24, at approximately 5:10 a.m. EDT, 9:10 UTC, Dragon will autonomously dock with the International Space Station.

This will be the first time Dragon will fly two international partners and it will also be the first time two Crew Dragons are attached simultaneously to the orbiting laboratory.

After an approximate six-month stay, Dragon and the Crew-2 astronauts will depart from the space station no earlier than October 31 for return to Earth and splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. The Crew-2 mission webcast will go live about 4 hours before liftoff. Tune in here to watch live.