NASA has released its official trailer (above) for the upcoming launch of SpaceX’s Crew-11 to the International Space Station (ISS).
NASA and SpaceX are targeting Thursday, July 31, for the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. To watch a live stream of the final pre-flight preparations as well as the launch itself, Digital Trends has all the details.
NASA’s trailer features some of the four Crew-11 participants — Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, along with Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov — talking about the fast-approaching mission.
“I think, in a lot of ways, science and exploration is just innate to us as human beings, it’s just innate to who we are,” said Cardman, who’s traveling to space for the first time. “In many ways, I think trying to explore space generates solutions to problems that we didn’t even know we had.”
Meanwhile, Fincke, who’s heading to orbit for the fourth time, describes the space station as “one of humanities greatest accomplishments so far, and it just shows what human beings can do when we work together.”
The four space travelers will spend about six months living and working aboard the orbital outpost. Besides engaging in science research and possibly taking part in spacewalks, the crew will also take time out for regular exercise, and enjoy some amazing views of Earth and beyond.
NASA released the trailer on the same day that the crew conducted a rehearsal for Thursday’s launch. SpaceX shared some photos and footage of the event.
Crew-11, SpaceX, and @NASA completed a full rehearsal of launch day activities pic.twitter.com/BjkKsoHHR8
The rehearsal involved the crew climbing into their spacesuits at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center, boarding vehicles for the drive to the launchpad, taking an elevator up the launch tower, and entering the Crew Dragon spacecraft that will carry them to the ISS.
The crew and the mission team are now keeping a close eye on the weather forecast for the Space Coast. The conditions are currently looking a little unsettled, and a final decision on whether Thursday is a go for launch will be made in the coming days.
After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180
SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.
Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver
For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.
A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.