{"id":8954,"date":"2021-04-23T17:44:50","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T17:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=8954"},"modified":"2021-04-23T17:05:02","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T17:05:02","slug":"spacex-set-for-pre-dawn-launch-to-international-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/spacex-set-for-pre-dawn-launch-to-international-space-station","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX set for pre-dawn launch to International Space Station"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>SpaceX is set to launch its third crew to the International Space Station an hour before sunrise Friday, recycling a rocket and spacecraft for the first time.<\/p>\n

The Crew-2 mission blasts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:49 am Eastern Time (0949 GMT), after being delayed a day by adverse weather along the flight path.<\/p>\n

Around 2:30 am (0630 GMT), Thomas Pesquet of France — the first European on a SpaceX mission — along with Americans Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur and Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide strode out in their suits to say goodbye to their families.<\/p>\n

They then boarded three white Teslas for the launchpad, a new tradition established by SpaceX, whose owner Elon Musk also made an appearance.<\/p>\n

The cars’ license plates read “recycle,” “reuse,” and “reduce,” in a nod to the fact that both the Falcon 9 booster and Crew Dragon capsule were deployed on previous missions.<\/p>\n

Flying on reused vehicles has been a key cost-saving goal of NASA’s partnerships with private industry.<\/p>\n

The day before, Pesquet tweeted a photo of the space quartet lounging on the beach before their voyage.<\/p>\n

“Our friends on the @Space_Station are expecting us to show up and we don’t want to be late. They even installed my bedroom recently and literally made my bed. Such nice hosts!” he added.<\/p>\n

The extra “bed” is necessary to accommodate an unusually large number of people aboard the ISS: 11 in total, as the Crew-2 team overlaps for a few days with Crew-1 astronauts, in addition to three Russian cosmonauts.<\/p>\n

It is the third time SpaceX will send humans to the ISS as part of its multibillion dollar contract with NASA under the Commercial Crew Program.<\/p>\n

The first mission launched last May and ended nine years of American reliance on Russian rockets for rides to the ISS following the end of the Space Shuttle program.<\/p>\n

“In terms of getting the operations ready, it’s always easier the third time you do it,” Daniel Forrestel, a NASA launch integration manager, told AFP.<\/p>\n

“I would never ever want to describe spaceflight as ‘routine,’ but ‘more familiar’ is a good way to put it,” he added.<\/p>\n

Major step for Europe<\/b><\/p>\n

Ahead of the launch, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark told AFP the mission was also a major step forward for Europe, which has dubbed it “Alpha” after its own naming convention.<\/p>\n

“On the one hand, it means a lot of course to have an astronaut going to the International Space Station — but at the same time it’s also the next mission in a long line of missions.”<\/p>\n

Germany’s Matthias Maurer will be the next European on a SpaceX mission this fall, followed by Italy’s Samantha Cristoforetti next spring.<\/p>\n

ESA will also be a key partner to the United States in the Artemis program to return to the Moon, providing the power and propulsion component for the Orion spacecraft, and critical elements of a planned lunar orbital station called Gateway.<\/p>\n

Mogensen predicted that in the hours leading up to the launch, Pesquet, who is a close friend of his, would be feeling a “sense of relief” to finally start the mission after years of planning.<\/p>\n

“You’re very focused on what’s going to happen, on your tasks at hand,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Crew-2 team has around 100 experiments in the diary during their six-month mission.<\/p>\n

These include research into what are known as “tissue chips” — small models of human organs that are made up of different types of cells and used to study things like aging in the immune system, kidney function and muscle loss.<\/p>\n

Another important element of the mission is upgrading the station’s solar power system by installing new compact panels that roll open like a huge yoga mat.<\/p>\n

After launch, the Falcon 9 rocket will return to Earth for an upright vertical landing on a drone ship, and the Crew Dragon capsule is scheduled to dock with the ISS at 5:10 am (0910 GMT) Saturday, with hatch opening two hours later.<\/p>\n

Pesquet and Hoshide have said they plan to liven things up by sharing their national cuisine with crewmates.<\/p>\n

The Frenchman’s last meal prior to launch: roast chicken and mashed potatoes, a cheese and baguette platter, and ice cream for dessert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. SpaceX is set to launch its third crew to the International Space Station an hour before sunrise Friday, recycling a rocket and spacecraft for the first time. The Crew-2 mission blasts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:49 am Eastern Time (0949 GMT), after being delayed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-8954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nSpaceX set for pre-dawn launch to International Space Station - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SpaceX is set to launch its third crew to the International Space Station an hour before sunrise Friday, recycling a roc ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/spacex-set-for-pre-dawn-launch-to-international-space-station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SpaceX set for pre-dawn launch to International Space Station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SpaceX is set to launch its third crew to the International Space Station an hour before sunrise Friday, recycling a roc ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/spacex-set-for-pre-dawn-launch-to-international-space-station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-23T17:44:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/04\/img-6082fe1f5390a.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"979\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/spacex-set-for-pre-dawn-launch-to-international-space-station#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/spacex-set-for-pre-dawn-launch-to-international-space-station\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"SpaceX set for pre-dawn launch to International Space Station\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-23T17:44:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/spacex-set-for-pre-dawn-launch-to-international-space-station\"},\"wordCount\":728,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/spacex-set-for-pre-dawn-launch-to-international-space-station#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/04\/img-6082fe1f5390a.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/spacex-set-for-pre-dawn-launch-to-international-space-station#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/spacex-set-for-pre-dawn-launch-to-international-space-station\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/spacex-set-for-pre-dawn-launch-to-international-space-station\",\"name\":\"SpaceX set for pre-dawn launch to International Space Station - 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