KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — In less than a week, Florida’s Space Coast will see the first operational launch to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Crew program.
SpaceX plans to launch four astronauts aboard the Crew Dragon “Resilience” at 7:49 p.m. Saturday.
The astronauts arrived Sunday afternoon as preparations are underway for the upcoming launch.
Watch: Election 2020 live updates: ‘This is a time to heal,’ Joe Biden tells nation
“For the crew, we’re ready,” said NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins. “We’ve spent the last couple of weeks kind of fine-tuning our training, and we’ve also had the opportunity to spend a little time at home with our families, and we’re truly honored to be part of this new era.”
One step closer to launch! 🚀
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) November 8, 2020
The astronauts that’ll soon launch to the @Space_Station arrived at @NASAKennedy this afternoon.
The Crew-1 launch is targeted for Nov. 14 at 7:49 p.m. ET. Countdown with us: https://t.co/ecs1kCa1Tk pic.twitter.com/lkp6YpD2Ja
Hopkins will launch along with fellow NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi. They will spend about six months aboard the space station.
Read: Space station marking 20 years of people living in orbit
“What we’re doing is transitioning from a test flight to operational flights. Make no mistake - every flight is a test flight when it comes to space travel, but it’s also try we need to be able to routinely go the ISS,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
"Today we are taking another big leap in this transformation in how we do human spaceflight. [...] What we're doing is we're transitioning from a test flight to operational flights." - Administrator @JimBridenstine on NASA's @SpaceX Crew-1 mission to the @Space_Station. pic.twitter.com/PXjkGwGoDv
— NASA (@NASA) November 8, 2020
There’s still a busy week ahead of the Crew-1 launch. Teams will review all aspects of the mission, including launch, rendezvous and docking.
Watch: Tropical Storm Eta impacts Cuba, Florida Keys before moving into Gulf
The flight readiness review begins Monday, but concerns over Tropical Storm Eta have delayed the mission’s Falcon 9 rocket static fire test.
Cox Media Group