12:20 ET UPDATE: Crew-5 mission successfully lifted off at noon, first stage booster landed safely on a An autonomous drone ship. The crew is now on its way to the International Space Station. The original text continues below.
The history-making Crew-5 mission will take off today from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX’s Dragon Endurance spacecraft will launch with four astronauts, two of whom will pioneer spaceflight.
The crew included NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada. Mann will make history as NASA’s first Indigenous woman in space. She will also be the first female commander of the Dragon capsule. Anna Kikina of Roscosmos will be the first Russian astronaut aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon. Astronaut Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will also participate in the flight.
Their destination is the International Space Station (ISS), where they will stay for about six months. On the International Space Station, they will conduct research, including printing human organs in space and how the fuel system works on the moon. They are scheduled to dock at Skylab on Thursday, October 6th at 4:57pm ET.
The launch was delayed several days and weeks due to Hurricane Ian’s destructive path the last time it crossed Florida. Now, the launch is expected to take place today, October 5th at 12 noon EST. NASA TV’s live launch coverage is already live at https://www.nasa.gov/live. You can also watch it on YouTube.
