The SpaceX Dragon is all set to lift off, after a hiatus of almost five months. It will transport its second batch of astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The crew will take off for their journey in a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on April 22, 2021. The mission known as Crew-2, will mark Elon Musk owned SpaceX’s third crewed spaceflight.
The Astronauts on Mission
The crew for the mission includes astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough from NASA, they will be joined by Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Akihiko Hoshide. They will join seven other astronauts currently stationed at the International Space Station (ISS).
Taking Off to the ISS
The launch is getting lot of attention among the general public. This is due to the involvement of SpaceX in the mission. The astronauts will take off in the Crew Dragon Endeavour. It will be propelled to the space in a SpaceX Falcon-9 booster. The launch is scheduled for April 22, with liftoff at 3:41 p.m. IST (1011 GMT).
The Crew-2 mission will embark its journey off our rock from NASA’s iconic Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Crew-2 Dragon is expected to dock to the ISS on 5:30 pm on April 23, 2021. Meanwhile, NASA has invited the public to take part in virtual activities and events ahead of the launch.
Getting involved : How to Watch SpaceX launch
With the excitement running high among the space nerds, NASA has arranged live stream of the liftoff. NASA TV will live stream the launch on YouTube. The launch event is scheduled for 3:11 p.m. IST on Thursday, April 22. It will take roughly a day to reach the station. The live stream can be viewed from the link given below.
Meanwhile, the NASA and SpaceX are moving forward in their highly successful partnership for Commercial Crew Program. The earlier tests have been largely successful. Crew-2 is the second flight in the partnership after the successful launch of the Crew-1 mission in 2020.
Looking forward NASA is anticipated to be closely monitoring the launch of the third flight in the partnership, i.e. the Crew-3 mission. This third mission is expected to take off as early as October 23.
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