NASA and SpaceX are ready to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station, with preparations underway and a launch scheduled for tonight at PT. The Crew-6 mission is scheduled to launch at 1:45 a.m. ET on Monday, February 27 (10:45 p.m. PT on Sunday, February 26) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida using the a SpaceX Cargo Dragon and a Falcon 9 rocket.
In a press conference after a readiness review on Saturday, February 25, NASA officials said the crew and hardware were given the go-ahead. “We have a good launch readiness assessment and we are on track for 27 launches,” said Dana Weigel, deputy manager of the International Space Station Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “This morning I had a chance to talk to the crew. They are beautiful. Spirits are high and they are ready to go.”
The mission will see four new crew members delivered to the ISS: NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut that Andrey Fedyaev. They will remain on the station for approximately six months, working on various scientific research projects and on station maintenance and upgrades.
They will be part of the crew of ISS Expedition 68, together with Nicole Aunapu Mann and Josh Cassada of NASA, Koichi Wakata of the Japanese space agency, Anna Kikina of Roscomos, and for a short time, Francisco Rubio of NASA and Dmitriy Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos.
The unusually high number of people on the station is only temporary as Rubio, Petelin, and Prokopyev will soon return to Earth aboard the recently arrived Russian Soyuz vehicle sent to replace the one that exploded you leak
The launch of the Crew-6 mission was delayed by 24 hours due to minor issues with the launch vehicle, but officials said these have been resolved and the hardware is ready to fly. Space Force weather official Brian Cizek said there is a 95% chance of favorable weather for the launch.
The mission launch will be livestreamed, and if you want to watch at home, we have details on how to watch the coverage, which begins at 10:15 pm ET (7:15 pm PT) tonight.
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