NASA and SpaceX pushed forward with deliberate prelaunch actions Cape Canaveral Area Power Station’s pad 40 on Tuesday even because the date of liftoff for the Crew-9 mission to the Worldwide Area Station needed to be delayed as a consequence of anticipated impacts from Tropical Storm Helene.
In an announcement late Tuesday afternoon, NASA introduced that the launch, initially set for Thursday, Sept. 26, was being delayed to no sooner than Saturday, Sept. 28, at 1:17 p.m. EDT (1717 UTC). The company stated the storm, which is predicted to strengthen right into a hurricane as early as Wednesday morning, will possible have impacts on Florida’s Area Coast.
“Though Tropical Storm Helene is shifting by way of the Gulf of Mexico and anticipated to influence the Florida panhandle, the storm system is giant sufficient that top winds and heavy rain are anticipated within the Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island areas on Florida’s east coast,” NASA wrote in a weblog submit.
Through the afternoon, NASA, SpaceX and Area Power Guardians with Area Launch Delta 45 performed a launch day run-through referred to as a dry gown rehearsal. They simulated the day-of actions with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexandr Gorbunov within the loop and went by way of the countdown course of.
Following the dry gown rehearsal, SpaceX will conduct a static hearth take a look at of its Falcon 9 rocket. The 9 Merlin engines on the base of the booster, B1085 within the SpaceX fleet, will ignite for a couple of seconds earlier than shutting down.
Astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov head to pad 40 Tuesday afternoon for a countdown rehearsal forward of the Crew 9 mission, now scheduled for launch no sooner than Saturday. Watch reside views from the Cape: pic.twitter.com/GsWqR9cWMj
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) September 24, 2024
B1085 beforehand launched on the Starlink 10-5 mission on Aug. 20, 2024. The rationale it launched a Starlink mission earlier than a crewed flight is as a result of it suffered water intrusion throughout its journey from SpaceX’s testing services in McGregor, Texas, to Florida.
“There was some moisture that went into the gas within the [liquid oxygen] tank of that booster when it was transported from McGregor to the Cape. The desiccant system didn’t carry out the way in which it was alleged to,” stated Steve Stich, the supervisor of NASA’s Industrial Crew Program, throughout an Aug. 7 press briefing. “That desiccant system is meant to maintain that air dry and so, it didn’t carry out the way in which it was alleged to. So we needed to dry these tanks out after which change a couple of parts on the car.”
B1085 together with its new second stage and the Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft rolled out of the hangar at Area Launch Complicated 40 (SLC-40) in the course of the early morning hours of Tuesday. The rocket was introduced upright shortly after 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 UTC).
The launch marks the primary crewed mission to launch from SLC-40, which gives NASA and SpaceX redundant capabilities to launch Dragon missions from each of SpaceX’s launch pads in Florida.
After launch, Dragon Freedom will stay docked with the ISS till February 2025. It would depart with Hague and Gorbunov together with NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams.
NASA determined to make use of the Dragon spacecraft to carry Wilmore and Williams dwelling after figuring out that there was sufficient uncertainty surrounding the thrusters on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that it didn’t really feel comfy with it being the crew’s returning car on the finish of the Crew Flight Check mission.
