Today, Saturday, from the Kennedy Space Center, NASA and SpaceX are preparing to launch the Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which will have four astronauts on board.
According to meteorologists with the 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, there is expected to be a 40% chance of favorable weather conditions for the launch of NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 mission.
Crew-8 is the eighth crew rotation mission for SpaceX's Human Space Transportation System and the ninth astronaut flight, including the Demo-2 test flight, to the space station through NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Take-off is scheduled to take place no later than 4:16 a.m. on Saturday, after bad weather yesterday forced its postponement.
NASA noted that “the joint teams chose the updated launch opportunity due to unfavorable weather conditions expected for Friday, March 1, in marine areas along the flight path,” to justify the postponement.
The four crew members of the Crew-8 mission arrived at the launch site in Florida last Sunday. Matthew Dominik, Michael Barrett, Janet Epps (all three from NASA) and Russian astronaut Alexander Grebenkin will board the Dragon Endeavor capsule.
Dominic will be the Crew-8 flight commander, while Barrett (the only one of the four to ever go into space) will be the pilot. Epps and Grekenkin will serve as mission specialists. Upon arrival at the orbiting laboratory, the team will replace the Crew-7 astronauts, who will return to Earth a week later.
You can watch the launch here.
