SpaceX and NASA will have another try at launching astronauts from U.S. soil on Saturday. The launch of SpaceX Crew Dragon – formally known as Demo-2 test flight – is set for Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 p.m. EDT (2:22 p.m. CDT) from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
The flight will carry NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station.
Coverage will start at 11 a.m. live on NASA Television and NASA’s website. Astronauts are set to arrive at the Space Station on Sunday, May 31 at around 10:29 a.m. EDT (9:29 a.m. CDT) with the hatch opening at 12:45 p.m. EDT (11:45 a.m. CDT).
Launch broadcast commentators are: Marie Lewis, Dan Huot, Gary Jordan, Derrol Nail, and Tahira Allen from NASA; and Lauren Lyons, John Insprucker, and Jessie Anderson from SpaceX; with special guest host and former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin. Postlaunch coverage commentators are Leah Cheshier, Courtney Beasley, Gary Jordan and Dan Huot from NASA; and Kate Tice, Siva Bharadvaj, and Michael Andrews from SpaceX.
Prelaunch coverage also includes a special performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by singer Kelly Clarkson.
The event marks the first time since 2011 that NASA astronauts have been launched from American soil on a trip to the space station. It also marks the first time the agency’s astronauts have been launched on a commercial spacecraft.
The launch was originally set for Wednesday but was scrubbed due to bad weather. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a video posted to Twitter that “the weather got us.”
“I know there was a lot of disappointment,” he said.
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