The sun sets behind a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of the Crew-5 astronaut launch. (Image: SpaceX) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Operations at Florida's spaceport are getting back to normal after Hurricane Ian's rampage throughout the state.
NASA and SpaceX are now targeting Wednesday, Oct. 5, to launch an American, Japanese and Russian astronaut crew to the International Space Station.If the current schedule holds, the Crew-5 mission will launch on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39A at noon EDT.
Backup launch dates are available on Oct. 7 and possibly Oct. 6-9, pending a review.NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina have been at Johnson Space Center in Houston during the final weeks before they travel to Florida for liftoff with SpaceX.
The astronauts arrived at KSC on Saturday and completed a wet dress rehearsal of the launch countdown on Sunday.For the first time since SpaceX began launching NASA astronauts from American soil in 2020, the Russian Space Agency and NASA have traded a seat onboard the commercial spacecraft.