Spacex - Crew Dragon Demo 2 Launch - 2020-05-27 20:33 UTC (16:33 EDT)
(NB: A timeline of events before and after the launch are at SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 Launch Timeline)
takyon writes:
Crew Dragon Demo-2 (officially known as SpaceX Demo-2) will be the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, scheduled for launch to the International Space Station on 27 May 2020 at 20:33:33 UTC (4:33:33 PM EDT). Demo-2 will be the first crewed orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since the final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, in 2011, on which Douglas (Doug) G. Hurley was the pilot. Hurley will be spacecraft commander on Crew Dragon Demo-2, joined by Robert (Bob) L. Behnken as joint operations commander. Crew Dragon Demo-2 will also be the first two-person orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since STS-4 in 1982.
martyb writes:
SpaceX - Crew Dragon Demo 2 Launch:
SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, May 27 for Falcon 9's launch of Crew Dragon's second demonstration (Demo-2) mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This test flight with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board the Dragon spacecraft will return human spaceflight to the United States.
The instantaneous launch window opens at 4:33 p.m. EDT, or 20:33 UTC, with backup instantaneous launch opportunities available on Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 p.m. EDT, or 19:22 UTC, and on Sunday, May 31 at 3:00 p.m. EDT, or 19:00 UTC. Tune in here[*] to watch the launch webcast. Coverage will begin about 4 hours before liftoff.
Demo-2 is the final major test for SpaceX's human spaceflight system to be certified by NASA for operational crew missions to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX is returning human spaceflight to the United States with one of the safest, most advanced systems ever built, and NASA's Commercial Crew Program is a turning point for America's future in space exploration that lays the groundwork for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
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