NASA and SpaceX are ready to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station, with preparations underway and launch scheduled for late tonight PT. The Crew-6 mission is set to launch at 1:45 a.m. ET on Monday, February 27 (10:45 p.m. PT on Sunday, February 26) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida using a SpaceX Cargo Dragon and Falcon 9 rocket.
In a press conference following a readiness review on Saturday, February 25, NASA officials said that the crew and hardware had been given the go-ahead. “We had a good launch readiness review and we’re on track for the 27 launch,” said Dana Weigel, deputy manager of the International Space Station Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “This morning I had a chance to talk to the crew. They’re doing great. Spirits are high and they are ready to go.”
The mission will see four new cre members delivered to the ISS: NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. They will stay on the station for approximately six months, working on a variety of scientific research projects and on station maintenance and upgrades.
They will become part of the ISS Expedition 68 crew, joining NASA’s Nicole Aunapu Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese space agency JAXA’s Koichi Wakata, Roscomos’ Anna Kikina, and for a short time, NASA’s Francisco Rubio and Roscosmos’ Dmitriy Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev.
The unusually high number of people on the station will only be temporary as Rubio, Petelin, and Prokopyev will soon be returning to Earth on board a recently arrived Russian Soyuz spacecraft that was sent to replace one that sprung a leak.
The launch of the Crew-6 mission has been delayed by 24 hours due to minor issues with the launch vehicle, but officials said these have now been resolved and the hardware is ready to fly. Space Force weather officer Brian Cizek said that there was 95% probability of favorable weather for the launch.
The launch of the mission will be livestreamed, and if you want to watch at home, we have details on how to watch the coverage , which begins at 10:15 p.m. ET (7:15 p.m. PT) tonight.
