According to NASA, this is standard operating procedure
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will be returning to Earth this afternoon aboard Crew 9 after spending some 286 days in space. They and the two other Crew 9 astronauts, Nick Hague and Alexandr Grubonov will begin their fiery descent at around 5:11 PM ET, with a planned touchdown coming some forty-six minutes later at 5:57 PM ET.
NASA said this morning that Crew Dragon will splash down in the Gulf of America, relatively near Tallahassee, Florida.
Suni Williams waves goodbye to crewmates on ISS last night before hatch closure. Video: NASA livestream
Afterwards, SpaceX will begin recovery efforts on the capsule, leading to the astronauts and cosmonaut exiting Crew Dragon once it is brought aboard SpaceX’s recovery vessel at sea.
As first reported on LiveScience.com, one thing that may surprise casual viewers tuning in to see Wilmore and Williams exit the Crew Dragon capsule is the likelihood that they will be carried in stretchers after leaving the spacecraft. The same may happen with Crew 9 commander Nick Hague and Mission Specialist Alexandr Aleksandr Vladimirovich Gurbonov as well. Both Hague and Gurbonov will have spent 171 days in space when they return to Earth this afternoon.
Wearing their SpaceX pressure suits, Butch Wilmore (l) and Suni Williams (r) post with Nick Hague and Alexandr Gurbonov in ISS shortly before hatch closure on March 17, 2025. Photo from NASA livestream
Talk of Titusville asked NASA for more information, and they replied:
As part of standard procedures, all International Space Station astronauts are placed, or seated, on a mobility aid by recovery teams to assist the crew members returning to Earth’s gravity after several months in space.
After completing medical checks, astronauts are transferred to a waiting helicopter and are taken to a waiting NASA aircraft to return to Houston to be reunited with their friends and families. Then begins the process of post-medical evaluations and reclamation to Earth’s gravity environment.
This process differs for each individual, typically lasting several months, as the longer an astronaut spends in space, the more difficult it is to readapt to gravity. Astronauts returning to Earth after living aboard the space station for extended durations have exhibited balance control problems, muscle weakness, and cardiovascular deconditioning.
NASA’s Human Research Program continues to innovate and pursue the best methods and technologies to keep astronauts healthy during their missions and when they return home. The International Space Station is helping prepare humans for future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars, including the exercise needed to address the challenges of living and working in microgravity for extended periods of time.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members pose together for a portrait inside the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft while it was still docked to the International Space Station. From left, are NASA astronaut Suni Williams, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Butch Wimore. Photo: NASA
Typically, astronauts aboard the station dedicate two hours daily to exercise in order to counteract bone and muscle deterioration caused by weightlessness. Despite these efforts, Wilmore and Williams will undergo intensive rehabilitation in the coming weeks and months as their bodies readjust to the pull of gravity that almost all of us take for granted as part of our daily lives.
All four Crew 9 astronauts and cosmonaut will also receive extensive medical checks as part of the crew return procedure, and will also be greeted by family, friends and colleagues after their arrival in Texas.
Watch Crew 9’s Return
Pending weather conditions at the splashdown sites, continuous coverage will resume on March 18 on NASA+ prior to the start of deorbit burn. As of the time of this writing, the schedule provided by NASA calls for:
4:45 PM ET – Return coverage begins on NASA+
5:11 p.m. – Deorbit burn (time is approximate)
5:57 p.m. – Splashdown (time is approximate)
7:30 p.m. – Return-to-Earth media conference on NASA+, with the following participants:
Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, NASA’ Space Operations Mission Directorate
Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
Jeff Arend, manager for systems engineering and integration, NASA’s International Space Station, NASA’s International Space Station Office
Sarah Walker, director, Dragon Mission Management, SpaceX
MS-25 landing in Kazakhstan earlier this morning. Video: via NASA Livestream
NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson has returned to Earth from the International Space Station. She orbited Earth 2,944 times and traveled approximately 78 million miles during her 184 days in space.
Dyson was accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko, who concluded their record-breaking stay aboard the orbiting outpost. They both spent 374 days in low-Earth orbit on ISS, making that the longest time anybody has ever stayed on the station in a continuous stint. That breaks NASA astronaut Frank Rubio’s 371 day record, but Rubio maintains the longest record aboard ISS for a NASA astronaut.
NASA Astronaut Tracy Dyson looks down on Earth while she was aboard ISS. Photo: NASA
The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft launched March 23, and arrived at the station March 25, with Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya were aboard the station for 12 days before returning home with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara on April 6.
According to NASA, following post-landing medical checks, the crew will return to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Dyson will then board a NASA plane bound for the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Soyuz MS-25 docked to ISS with an aurora in the background. Photo: Matthew Dominick, NASA (via X.com)
Crew 9 Astronauts Aleksandr Vladimirovich Gorbunov and Nick Hague greeted reporters and NASA personnel yesterday at the old Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
The NASA/SpaceX Crew 9 astronauts have arrived at Kennedy Space Center.
Crew 9 Final Preparations Set To Begin.
After landing on a chartered Gulfstream G-550 flight from Houston, the crew will begin final preparations for their upcoming flight aboard a Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon to the International Space Station, slated to launch no earlier than Thursday, September 26th, at 02:05 PM EDT.
They were greeted by Kelvin Manning, deputy director, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and Dana Hutcherson, deputy program manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program as well as a large contingent of reporters.
After answering questions from the press, Hague and Gorbunov left to enter quarantine at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at KSC. They will also complete a dry dress rehearsal of the mission, will align their resting and waking periods to match mission requirements and will also practive other launch and free-flight procedures that will be needed during the early part of their mission.
Aleksandr Vladimirovich Gorbunov and NASA Astronaut Nick Hague greeted reporters and @NASA personnel yesterday at the old Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC. They launch NET Thursday 2:06 PM EDT. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Dana Hutcherson gave more information on pre-launch preparations, “Our teams will also gather on Monday for the flight readiness review ahead of the launch. This launch will mark the first time a human spaceflight mission will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40, and our NASA and SpaceX teams have been working hand in hand with our Space Force mission partners. This is a huge increase in capability for us. With two pads now rated for human spaceflight, we now have operational flexibility with SpaceX to deconflict launches at both 39 A and SLC 40.”
An uncrewed Falcon 9 launching from Space Launch Complex 40. The site has seen over 250 launches through the years, but never a crewed flight. That will change as soon as this week. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Integration Of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams Into Crew 9
Due to issues with the Boeing Crewed Flight test and the subsequent shift of CFT astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to Expedition 72 and Crew 9, the two astronauts who flew to ISS aboard Starliner will be returning to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon — a spacecraft neither of the two have previous flight experience with.
This reporter asked Crew 9 Commander Nick Hague when the integration of the two members would start:
Nick Hague comments on integrating the two Crew 9 astronauts already on Crew 9 Video via NASA liverstream. Members of the press waiting for Crew-9s arrival. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvilleThe crew and support personnel arriving at KSC’s SLF on September 22, 2024 aboard a Gulfstream G-550 charter flight. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Nick Hague, left, and Aleksandr Gorbunov, right. Photos from NASA and Roscosmos
NASA has made an official announcement regarding the roster for Crew 9, currently scheduled to fly to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon no earlier than September 24.
In a press release issued August 30, the agency said, “NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 24, on the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, previously announced as crewmates, are eligible for reassignment on a future mission.”
NASA Astronaut Zena Cardman Photo: NASA
They added that Hague and Gorbunov would fly to the space station as commanders and pilots on a two-crew member flight aboard a SpaceX Dragon. These changes were made to create room aboard Crew Dragon for Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose spacecraft will return to Earth on September 6 without the two aboard.
“I am deeply proud of our entire crew,” said Cardman said in the NASA press release, “and I am confident Nick and Alex will step into their roles with excellence. All four of us remain dedicated to the success of this mission, and Stephanie and I look forward to flying when the time is right.”
NASA Astronaut Stephanie Wilson Photo: NASA
Wilson added, “I know Nick and Alex will do a great job with their work aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 72.”
NASA Chief Astronaut Joe Acabo said, “While we’ve changed crew before for a variety of reasons, downsizing crew for this flight was another tough decision to adjust to given that the crew has trained as a crew of four.”
NASA says it will share the reassignment details for Cardman and Wilson when they become available.
Starliner CST-100 in launch preparation, May 31, 2024
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
NASA managers say they are close to a decision on when and how they plan to bring Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight test astronauts from the International Space Station. The mission was originally slated to run eight days, but the pair have been in orbit for sixty-three days since their June 5th launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard an Atlas V.
“I don’t think we’re too far away from making that call,” Ken Bowersox, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations Mission Directorate said this afternoon. He added, “We know that at some point we need to bring Butch and Suni home [but] while they’re up there, we have extra crew, we have extra hands, they can do a lot more work, but they’re also using up more consumables, more supplies.”
“As we’ve said before, our prime option is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner, however, we have done the requisite planning to make sure we have other options open.”
Steve Stich, NASA’s Manager for the Commercial Crew Program, August 7, 2024
Bowersox added that Williams and Wilmore may not return on the Starliner spacecraft. “In the case that we have with the Starliner crew,” he said, “the option to either bring the crew home on the Starliner or to bring the crew home on another vehicle. We could take either path, and reasonable people could pick either path depending on where their view is on our position in the uncertainty bound that we have for the date.”
“We have been working with SpaceX to ensure that they are ready to respond on Crew 9 for a contingency of returning Butch and Suni on Crew 9,” Bowersox said. “If we need that we have set up the [Crew] Dragon for Crew 9 to have flexibility to have only two passengers fly up on that flight.”
One thing that NASA did not disclose is which two of the Crew 9 crew would potentially be taken off the mission should the need arise. “We’re not really ready to share the data on which crew members,” said Steve Stich. “I think we’ll do that at the appropriate time.”
Why The Uncertainty About Starliner?
Ken Bowersox from his days as a Space Shuttle astronaut. Photo: NASA
The reason for the uncertainty is well-documented: Starliner has thruster problems on its Service Module, and engineers and mission managers within NASA are not unanimous that the spacecraft can be safely flown until such time as the Starliner capsule would separate from its troubled SM and then begin re-entry.
Bowersox said, “We’ve got on the thruster system, on the propulsion system. Moving forward, what we’re trying to do is reduce that uncertainty, see if we can drive some more consensus, amongst our team at the same time getting more serious about evaluating our other options. It’s been really great to watch our team working, our Boeing team, our NASA team, the way people are speaking up; the way we’re hearing different voices, different thoughts on how critical different factors are in the decision.”
“I think it’s been very healthy,” Bowersox said, speaking about the debate behind the scenes. “I have to admit that sometimes when we get this agreement, it’s not fun. It can be painful having those discussions, but it’s what makes us a good organization and it’s what will get us to a good decision as we approach that point here in the future.”
“And I don’t think we’re too far away from making that call.”
Steve Stich Comments On Starliner Issues
Steve Stich, NASA’s Manager for the Commercial Crew Program, gave an in-depth rundown of the technical aspects of Starliner’s issues:
“I’ll talk a little bit more about the manifest changes we’ve made and what we’ve done to give ourselves some flexibility in the near term relative to all the options that we’re looking at. So, if we start with Starliner last time we talked a lot about testing results at White Sands, we had completed the thruster testing, which was essentially two uphill [ascent to ISS after launch] profiles trying to get to the temps that we saw on this particular thruster.”
Steve Stich Photo: from previous NASA livestream
“And then we really have done five downhill [undocking and free flight to reentry] profiles with that particular thruster. We were able to replicate degradation in the thruster during. That testing, and we saw that continually on the downhill side with the thruster thrust levels degrading over time, which seems to mimic what we’re seeing in flight to some extent during those downhill profiles, as we talked about during that testing, we gained insight into what we think one of the contributing factors are for that thrust degradation.”
Stich continued: “And that would be this Teflon seal on the oxidizer line poppet. Now, this poppet’s really small. It’s about, if you hold up your little pinky finger, it’s about the size of that. A little bit smaller even than your pinky finger. So it’s a small poppet. But what we saw during that testing is the swelling of that Teflon seal.”
A simplified poppet valve. The one causing the Starliner issue is undoubtedly a different design, and this one is presented in order to give a reader an idea of the basic construction of one. Graphic: instrumentationtools.com
“It kind of extruded a little bit. And what happens with that seal is it blocks the flow into the thruster itself, down into the combustion chamber. So we know that’s happening. We know we can get vaporization when it gets hot in that line, bringing propellant into the thruster.”
“And also when that poppet is blocked by the Teflon seal, we see some cavitation, in other words, unsteady flow across that poppet. We have some animation that we hope to be able to release soon to you. So you can see what this is like. Boeing has been doing a lot of work on that animation.”
“Hopefully, we can have them share that soon so you can get a better idea of that mechanism as well. We also have this same theory that has some vaporization of the propellant, right, and it drops the thrust. So there’s really two key things that we think is happening. One, when the thruster gets really hot, the propellant can vaporize.”
“That’s where we saw the really low thrust readings on docking day. And then as the poppet swells, we can get some blockage there. Based on what we learned at White Sands, what we’re trying to do now is sort of understand what all that data means to us from the white sands testing and then what it means to the thrusters on orbit.”
“We did do a hot fire while we’re docked to the International Space Station on Saturday, July 11. we wanted to understand the performance of all the thrusters across the vehicle. So we hot fired all 27 thrusters. We did not hot fire one thruster in the bottom doghouse.”
“We call it the B1-A3 thruster. That one had really low thrust before, during the dock when we were docking back on July 6. And so we did not. Or June 6, and we did not hot fire that thruster. The interesting thing when we hot fired the thrusters is all the thrusters now across the whole vehicle are essentially at nominal thrust level.”
“So, for example, the one that we saw the most degradation in the two. A two was at about 80% before the hot fire, and now it’s about 98%. So somehow, if the poppet is the theory of what’s causing the thrust degradation, the blockage in that ox flow, somehow that piece of Teflon must have contracted and is now not blocking the flow like it was.”
“And so we have a nominal flow, essentially, into that. Thruster and nominal thrust. What we’re really trying to do now, that gives us a lot of confidence in the thrusters, but we can’t totally prove with certainty what we’re seeing on orbit is exactly what’s been replicated on the ground.”
“We’re trying to understand a little bit more about the conditions that cause the thruster fail-offs. It’s not always at the same temperature. It’s not always at the same number of pulses. And so we’re trying to understand that we are doing modeling on the ground to try to understand how this Teflon could extrude what the forces are on that Teflon.”
“And then trying to understand how it could contract over time. People really want to understand the physics of what’s going on relative to the physics of the Teflon, what’s causing it to heat up, what’s causing it to contract. And that’s really what the team is off trying to understand. And then look ahead toward the downhill phase and the heating on the downhill phase and seeing if we can model that on the downhill phase and ensure we have good thrusters.”
“Again, we have really good knowledge of what the downhill is. But how does that really help us out?”
“In combination with that, we have tried to buy ourselves a little bit of time to work various options for return. And so recently, this week at the Program Control Board, just yesterday, we approved moving the Crew 9 mission to no earlier than September 24. We took that to the Program Control Board, and it was approved.”
— Steve Stich, August 7, 2024
Stich on Using Starliner As A Rescue Vehicle
Starliner CFT commander Butch Wilmore, May 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
“We have been working with SpaceX to ensure that they are ready to respond on Crew 9 for a contingency of returning Butch and Suni on Crew 9 if we need that. We have set up the dragon for Crew 9 to have flexibility to have only two passengers fly up on that flight,” Stich said.
“And then we could return four crew members in the February 2025 timeframe. And Butch and Suni would remain on station and become part of that increment and return home with them on Crew 9. Now, we haven’t approved this plan. In other words, we’ve done all the work to make sure this plan is there.”
“We have the suits identified to fly up on Crew 9. We have the seats set up so that we can fly multiple complement of people. But we have not turned that on formally, as that’s the path that we’re going to go down. But we wanted to make sure we had all that flexibility in place.”
“We’ll fly up the supplies needed on that Crew 9 flight, including any suits needed for butch and Suni. You know, we’ve done previous work with that for other contingencies. And we’ll have the foam inserts to work on all the seats for the various crew members.”
“So we’ve done a lot of contingency work and a lot of contingency planning for a lot of scenarios, but we think now we would have the whole waterfront covered. As I said, we haven’t really implemented planning for the mission for these things, but we have all the items in place to keep all the options on the table.”
That said, it appears that NASA is keeping its options open by thoroughly investigating and completing at least preliminary plans for the option of returning the Boeing Starliner CFT astronauts on a SpaceX Crew Dragon.
At the end of the press conference several things were clear: first, that NASA is undecided on whether to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth using Starliner, second, that there are disagreements within NASA about doing that, and third, that returning on a SpaceX Crew Dragon is a very real possibility with planning already started for that option as a contingency.
Falcon 9 lifts off in January lofting the Northrup Grumman NG-21 payload towards ISS. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Update: 12 PM EDT Saturday
A wave of thunderstorms passed through the Cape Canaveral area around 90 minutes before liftoff Saturday, forcing SpaceX to stand down from its launch attempt today.
Due to unfavorable weather, we are standing down from today's launch of @northropgrumman's NG-21 mission. Next launch opportunity is Sunday, August 4 → https://t.co/bsNx0Xb6I3
The company said in a latter post on X.com that they would try again tomorrow, but with a 90% Probability of Violation and an approaching tropical system off of Florida’s west coast, the chances of that don’t seem very high. Monday’s forecast is equally squirrelly as the system is forecast to arc through northern Florida, creating storm squalls and windy conditions across the state.
On the other hand, it’s Florida and the weather here can be unpredictable. So, we’ll see when SpaceX can get this launch off of the pad.
—————-
SpaceX is planning to launch Falcon 9 carrying the NG-21 ISS Resupply mission for Northrup Grumman. Liftoff Saturday morning is set 11:28 AM EDT (1538Z) in an instantaneous window from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
SpaceX plans for the booster to return and land at Landing Zone 1 in Cape Canaveral. The Space Coast will hear a sonic boom from the booster as it herald’s its return, which should happen approximately 7.5 minutes after liftoff.
Weather is a major concern for this launch, as a tropical disturbance’s passing to the west in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to bring heavy rains to the Space Coast over the weekend. Current forecasts are calling for weather to arrive sometime Saturday, so the timing of the storm coupled with the normal storm activity of Florida in summer leaves forecasters calling the chances of acceptable weather a coin flip with a 50% chance of a Probability of Violation at launch time.
At A Glance
Mission: Northrup Grumman NG-21
Date: NET August 3, 2024
Launch Window: 11:28AM EDT (1528 Zulu)
Weather: 50% GO at launch time
Organization: SpaceX
Rocket: Falcon 9
Trajectory: Northeastward
Launch Site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Booster Landing: Landing Zone 1, CCSFS
Payload: Cygnus CRS-2 NG-21 (S.S. Francis R. “Dick” Scobee)
Destination: International Space Station
Payload
Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus (S.S. Francis R. “Dick” Scobee) cargo spacecraft, loaded with scientific investigations, supplies, and equipment.
Graphic: NASA
According to NASA, the payload includes:
Test articles to evaluate liquid and gas flow through porous media found in space station life support systems.
Microorganisms known as Rotifers to examine the effects of spaceflight on DNA repair mechanisms.
A bioreactor to demonstrate the production of many high-quality blood and immune stem cells.
Vascularized liver tissue to analyze the development of blood vessels in engineered tissue flown to the space station.
Weather
General Forecast
The forecast at launch time looks relatively benign:
Temperature
28.9°C
Humidity
~65%
Precipitation
None, Probably
Cloud cover
Variable
Windspeed (at ground level)
10-15 MPH / 4.5-6.7 m/s
Visibility
~16.5 miles / 27.0 km
Official Launch Forecast
The 45th Weather Squadron’s discussion in their launch forecast mentions the tropical system noted above. “All eyes will remain on Potential Tropical Cyclone Four (PTC 4) as it lifts out of the Greater Antilles and into the Gulf of Mexico. The official forecast from the National Hurricane Center has the system becoming a named storm Saturday and skirting the western Florida Peninsula Sunday, potentially making landfall as a Tropical Storm anywhere from the Florida Big Bend to southwest Florida.
Regardless of where the center of the storm makes landfall, the Space Coast will be on the eastern side of the system, and weather is likely to deteriorate with time from Saturday afternoon into Sunday. For the initial launch window, scattered showers are expected to approach the coastline out of the southeast and potentially move onshore.”
Their primary concerns that could necessitate a delay are: the Cumulus Cloud Rule, Surface Electric Fields Rule, and Thick Cloud Layers Rule.
via 4th Weather Squadron Retrieved 1600 EDT, 08/02/2024
Trajectory
Northeastwards.
Landing
The booster used for this mission, B1080, will land at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
A Falcon Heavy side booster firing up its engines to land last month at Cape Canaveral Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
SpaceX will have a livestream of the launch on their website: NG-21 Mission. This will also be available on the X platform. Coverage starts about five minutes before liftoff.
Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link
For official updates regarding launch times, SpaceX.com is the best source of information. Starlink launch times change from time to time, and the company generally updates their website within minutes of the decision to change the launch time. This is very handy if none of the streaming options on YouTube have started their broadcasts.
Remember that there is a delay between a launch stream and the actual countdown clock. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.
Next Space Flight an app for iOS and Android phones, has a real-time countdown clock that is accurate to a second, give or take. The app is free. Search the App Store or Google Play. They are also on the web: nextspaceflight.com.
Launch Viewing: In Person
This morning’s planned launch is from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral, which means that the best direct views of liftoff are:
Banana River Bridge on FL-528 W near Port Canaveral, where you will be able to see ignition, liftoff and the booster landing. Free.
Kennedy Space Center Vistor’s Center. From Apollo/Saturn V Center. Premium Launch Transportation Ticket. Bleacher seating is available, expert commentary, and closer view of the launch from across Banana Creek. Landing is pretty far away, relatively speaking. $70 for the launch viewing ticket plus entrance fees and parking. If you choose this go very early — lines will be long!
There are several excellent viewing spots for SLC-40 launches that offer indirect views — meaning you won’t see the rocket until it clears obstructions such as trees, buildings, even a storm berm in one case.
Parking fees (probably). Pay with your smartphone on the parking app. There are signs everywhere telling you how.
Further away, but still good views. Launch and landing is indirect.
Northern Titusville Parks
Further away, but really nice views after liftoff.
You won’t see the landing directly, but instead from a good distance away.
Restaurants With Good Launch Views
The Space Bar ($$$) – atop the Courtyard Marriott near Kennedy Parkway
New York New York ($$) – on the Indian River with an outdoor seating area. Is family-friendly.
Shiloh’s ($$$) — located on the Indian River with an outdoor deck overlooking KSC/CCSFS
Playalinda Beach
Playalinda Beach out on the Cape Canaveral National Seashore should be open to spectators until 8 PM EDT, that is if KSC Security and the National Park Service allow viewers for the launch. Generally, they have been, but security concerns can differ for each launch. It opens to visitors at 6 AM.
If you are going to Playalinda, and if it is open, remember these general tips. Some may not apply to this particular launch.
Get there at least two hours early, or better, earlier than that. Lines are long at the entry gate and they will only allow as many spectator vehicles as there are parking space available.
Cape Canaveral National Seashore has a fee to get in and cash is not accepted. Debit and credit cards are okay, or if you have one of the National Park Service’s passes for the Seashore or the National Parks, that will work as well.
Cellphone service is spotty at best and often non-existent at Playalinda. Don’t count on your cellphone to keep up with the launch; you might get a signal, or you might not.
You are not allowed to view from the pullouts on Beach Road. Stanchions will block them. You’ll have to park and go to the beach.
Refreshments are not available. There are no stores at Cape Canaveral National Seashore, so you’ll need to bring drinks and food if you want any while you’re there.
Rangers will keep you back a certain distance from the launch area on the beach. Even if the beach is open, you’ll still be unable to go down to the fence that demarcates the normal security zone. There’s a line that spectators can’t go past somewhat north of the fence. That’s for safety and security.
Be prepared for potential changes or pushbacks in the launch schedule, and keep up by monitoring the live stream links mentioned above.
Booster: B0180
SpaceX states on their website, “This is the tenth flight of the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Ax-2, Euclid, Ax-3, CRS-30, SES ASTRA 1P, and four Starlink missions.”
That’s Booster B1080.
Booster B1080
Flight Number
Mission
Date
1
Axiom-2
May 21, 2023
2
Euclid
July 1, 2023
3
Starlink 6-11
August 27 2023
4
Starlink 6-24
October 22, 2023
5
Axiom-3
January 18, 2024
6
CRS-30
March 21, 2024
7
Starlink 6-52
April18, 2024
8
Starlink 6-62
May 23, 2024
9
Astra 1P / SES-24
June 20, 2024
B1080 record as of June 20, 2024
Countdown Timeline
Hr/Min/Sec
Event
00:38:00
SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load
00:35:00
RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins
00:35:00
1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins
00:16:00
2nd stage LOX loading begins
00:07:00
Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch
00:01:00
Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks
00:01:00
Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins
00:00:45
SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch
00:00:03
Engine controller commands engine ignition sequence to start
00:00:00
Falcon 9 liftoff
via SpaceX
Launch, Landing and Deployment
Hr/Min/Sec
Event
00:01:08
Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members (pictured from left to right) NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers, Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, NASA astronaut Anne McClain, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi. Photo: NASA
NASA announced the members of the Crew-10 mission to ISS today. They slated to fly to ISS no earlier than February of next year aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon and Falcon 9.
NASA astronauts Commander Anne McClain and Pilot Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov will join astronauts at the orbiting laboratory next year.
Anne McClain
Anne McClain Photo: NASA
This will be McClain’s second spaceflight. She was selected as an astronaut in 2013 and is a colonel in the U.S. Army. McClain earned her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and holds master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering, International Security, and Strategic Studies.
The Spokane, Washington, native is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland. She has more than 2,300 flight hours in 24 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, including more than 800 in combat, and was a member of the U.S. Women’s National Rugby Team.
On her first spaceflight, McClain spent 204 days as a flight engineer during Expeditions 58 and 59 and was the lead on two spacewalks, totaling 13 hours and 8 minutes. Since then, she has served in various roles, including branch chief and space station assistant to the chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office.
Nichole Ayers
Nichole Ayers Photo: NASA
Ayers is a major in the U.S. Air Force and the first member of NASA’s 2021 astronaut class set to fly to space. The Colorado native graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a minor in Russian.
She later earned a master’s in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Rice University in Houston. Ayers served as an instructor pilot and mission commander in the T-38 ADAIR and F-22 Raptor, leading multinational and multiservice missions worldwide. She has more than 1,400 total flight hours, including more than 200 in combat.
Ayers is also a former athlete, and was a member of the academy’s varsity volleyball team.
Takuya Onishi
Takuya Onishi Photo: JAXA
The Crew 10 flight will be Onishi’s second trip to the International Space Station. After being selected by JAXA in 2009, he flew as a flight engineer for Expeditions 48 and 49 became the first Japanese astronaut to robotically capture the Cygnus spacecraft. He has spent 113 days in space. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Tokyo and was a pilot for All Nippon Airways, flying more than 3,700 flight hours in the Boeing 767.
He also constructed a new experimental environment aboard Kibo, the station’s Japanese experiment module. Since his spaceflight, Onishi became certified as a JAXA flight director, leading the team responsible for operating Kibo from JAXA Mission Control in Tsukuba, Japan.
Kirill Peskov
Kirill Peskov Photo: Roscosmos
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission also will be Peskov’s first spaceflight. Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, he earned a degree in Engineering from the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation School and was a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for airlines Nordwind and Ikar. Assigned as a test-cosmonaut in 2020, he has additional experience in skydiving, zero-gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival.
Thirteen strains of Enterobacter bugandensis,have mutated and became genetically distinct compared to their Earth counterparts. The study also found that E. bugandensis coexisted with multiple other microorganisms, and in some cases could have helped those organisms survive. So far, NASA, Roscosmos, or any other international partners aboard the ISS have not reported infected astronauts or, worse, transmission of the species from the ISS to Earth.
E. bugandensis
A NASA news release this week perhaps states the findings more clearly:
“In a new scientific paper funded by an Ames Space Biology grant, Principal Investigator Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory strains of the bacterial species Enterobacter bugandensis isolated from the International Space Station (ISS) were studied. Thirteen strains of E. bugandensis, a bacterium notorious for being multi-drug resistant, were isolated from the ISS. Study findings indicate under stress, the ISS isolated strains were mutated and became genetically and functionally distinct compared to their Earth counterparts. The strains were able to viably persist in the ISS over time with a significant abundance. E. bugandensis coexisted with multiple other microorganisms, and in some cases could have helped those organisms survive.
“Closed human-built environments, such as the ISS, are unique areas that provide an extreme environment subject to microgravity, radiation, and elevated carbon dioxide levels. Any microorganisms introduced to these areas must adapt to thrive. By delving into microbial dynamics in extreme environments, this research opens doors to effective preventative measure for astronaut health.”
In short, this common species from Earth has traveled to ISS, adapted to the unique environment of the orbiting outpost, and has evolved into something entirely new that is resistant to standard antibiotic treatments.
ISS. Photo: NASA
Known Since 2015
The recently released study backs up other studies that go back as far as 2015. According to a peer-reviewed release in 2018, “Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA investigated five strains of Enterobacter that were isolated from the space toilet and the exercise platform on the ISS in March 2015 as part of a wider effort to characterize the bacterial communities that live on surfaces inside the space station. To identify the species of Enterobacter collected on the ISS and to show in detail the genetic make-up of the individual strains, the researchers compared the ISS strains to all publicly available genomes of 1,291 Enterobacter strains collected on Earth.”
In 2018, Dr Kasthuri Venkateswaran, a Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group stated that, “Whether or not an opportunistic pathogen like E. bugandensis causes disease and how much of a threat it is, depends on a variety of factors, including environmental ones. Further in vivo studies are needed to discern the impact that conditions on the ISS, such as microgravity, other space, and spacecraft-related factors, may have on pathogenicity and virulence.”
Health Effects of E. bugandensis?
According to the NIH’s National Center for Biotechnology Information, “Enterobacter species are responsible for causing many nosocomial infections, and less commonly community-acquired infections, including urinary tract infections (UTI), respiratory infections, soft tissue infections, osteomyelitis, and endocarditis, among many others.”
Again, no illnesses specific to E. bugandensis have been reported, and scientists have been monitoring this situation for some time.
Starliner CFT-2 launching May 19, 2022. Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
Boeing’s Crewed Flight Test of Starliner has pushed a little further to the right again and is now scheduled to launch no earlier than May 1st. That shift is not due to any concerns with the vehicle or its readiness, but instead, ISS scheduling, specifically docking port availability.
Steve Stich, NASA’s Manager of Commercial Crew said in a press conference today that “The launch date right now is no earlier than May 1, and that’s driven by the ISS traffic.” He added, “As you know, it’s been a busy year on ISS. We have a cargo vehicle en route right now, and Dana will talk a little bit more about that mission and then how, at the end of the undocked time frame, we have to set up for a crewed flight test.”
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore emerge from the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, as part of an integrated crew exercise simulation for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT). Photo credit: NASA/Isaac Watson
“I had a chance to go over to one of the recent simulations and watch Butch and Suni and talk to them a bit. They’re in great spirits. They are ready and anxious to fly both the Starliner vehicle and also anxious to get on board ISS once they get there. They’ll be there for just under two weeks and the main focus will be putting Starliner through its paces,” Stich said.
CFT Will Be A Busy Flight Test
Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Vice President and Program Manager of the Starliner Program outlined what promises to be a busy schedule for Williams and Willmore during the flight. “The CFT flight is really the introduction of crew into our vehicle system. So a lot of our flight test objectives are about how that interface is going to work.”
Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Vice President and Program Manager of the Starliner Program in today’s press conference. Photo: NASA Livestream
As to flight test objectives, Nappi said, “We’ve got just under 90 of them. And it’s all, does the vehicle perform with the human in the loop, as expected?”
“We flew OFT-2,” Nappi added, “And that was the uncrewed mission for the Starliner vehicle. It was very successful. Now we introduce the human. And so what are we going to do to establish that interface?”
“From prelaunch through ascent, we’re going to be looking at how the astronauts fit into the seats, how they interface with the equipment in the vehicle. when we go through approach and rendezvous.” After that, Nappi said, “We’ll confirm the thruster performance and manual scenarios are working as expected. We’ll check the communications. We’ll check the manual and auto navigation systems and the operation of the life support system with crew now in the vehicle.”
Starliner at ISS Photo: Boeing
After arriving at ISS, Nappi said “once we’re on dock, we’ll look at hatch operations and how that works with the crew. And, once we get past the first few days, we’ll go into a quiescent mode and make sure that performs Rnominally. And then after that, it’s about crew, excuse me, about cargo transfer.”
Preparing for re-entry and landing will also be a major set of test objectives: “We’ll undock,” Nappi said. “We’ll confirm our manual piloting system. We’ll be able to go into the backup mode and let Butch and Suni use the hand controllers to make sure the vehicle reacts as expected.”
Starliner after landing a test flight at White Sands, NM Photo: NASA
Finally, Nappi said, “How we separate from the crew module with the service module and how we re enter and use the parachute systems and test the landing systems out. So a lot of nominal operations, but this time the crew is involved and so we want to check that interface out.”
“CFT is a test flight, so we expect that there may be some lessons learned,” Nappi concluded.
Williams and Willmore’s flight is expected to last around eight days.
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