{"id":25024,"date":"2021-04-17T00:18:52","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T16:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/endeavour-moved-to-39a-as-astronauts-arrive-and-crew-2-mission-is-cleared-for-launch\/"},"modified":"2021-04-17T00:18:52","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T16:18:52","slug":"endeavour-moved-to-39a-as-astronauts-arrive-and-crew-2-mission-is-cleared-for-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/endeavour-moved-to-39a-as-astronauts-arrive-and-crew-2-mission-is-cleared-for-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Endeavour moved to 39A as astronauts arrive and Crew-2 mission is cleared for launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Thomas Pesquet, and Akihiko Hoshide have arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for their upcoming launch to the International Space Station on the same day their spaceship, the Crew Dragon <i>Endeavour<\/i>, was moved to its sea-side launch pad.<\/p>\n<p>NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting launch of the Crew-2 mission on Thursday, April 22 at 06:11 EDT \/ 10:11 UTC from LC-39A ahead of docking 23 hours later on Friday, April 23rd.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Ticking off important milestones for NASA and SpaceX for the Commercial Crew Program, Crew-2 is SpaceX\u2019s second long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS).&nbsp; It is the first crewed mission using a previously flown Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 first stage.<\/p>\n<p>Named <i>Endeavour<\/i>, the Crew Dragon capsule was previously flown for the Demo-2 mission, which was the first crewed flight for SpaceX and carried Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the Station.<\/p>\n<p>Crew-2 will also be the second flight of the Falcon 9 booster B1061, which previously launched Crew Dragon <i>Resilience<\/i> and the Crew-1 mission in November 2020 carrying NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi.<\/p>\n<p>Crew-2 will also be the first time a European will fly on a US commercial vehicle and capsule; likewise, with liftoff, Megan McArthur will become only the forth woman to pilot a US human space mission after Eileen Collins, Susan Still, and Pamela Melroy from the Shuttle era.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=mihirneal&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfdGltZWxpbmVfbGlzdCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOltdLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2ZvbGxvd2VyX2NvdW50X3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9iYWNrZW5kIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19yZWZzcmNfc2Vzc2lvbiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZm9zbnJfc29mdF9pbnRlcnZlbnRpb25zX2VuYWJsZWQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X21peGVkX21lZGlhXzE1ODk3Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRyZWF0bWVudCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3Nob3dfYmlyZHdhdGNoX3Bpdm90c19lbmFibGVkIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19kdXBsaWNhdGVfc2NyaWJlc190b19zZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdXNlX3Byb2ZpbGVfaW1hZ2Vfc2hhcGVfZW5hYmxlZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdmlkZW9faGxzX2R5bmFtaWNfbWFuaWZlc3RzXzE1MDgyIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRydWVfYml0cmF0ZSIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfbGVnYWN5X3RpbWVsaW5lX3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9mcm9udGVuZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1383134862752698369&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasaspaceflight.com%2F2021%2F04%2Fcrew-2-final-launch-preps%2F&amp;sessionId=c53771d29f99b7db159f182e5c06d7dcf79686f2&amp;siteScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-20=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1383134862752698369\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1783497415231164737=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">#ICYMI <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" role=\"img\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\"\ud83d\ude80\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/16.0.1\/svg\/1f680.svg\"> @NASA&#8217;s @SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts arrived at @NASAKennedy earlier this afternoon to start final preparations for launch!<\/p>\n<p>They are scheduled to lift off on April 22 for a six-month science mission to the @Space_Station: https:\/\/t.co\/VfSHJF6HPu pic.twitter.com\/TRvkt563Tr<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) April 16, 2021<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>NASA educational resources<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Astronomy<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Aerospace industry analysis<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>\n<p>     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n<p>Once <i>Endeavour<\/i> reaches the ISS again, it will mark the second time two JAXA astronauts will work together on the ISS.&nbsp; The previous occurrence was in April 2010 when Naoko Yamazaki arrived at the Station as a part of STS-131 while Soichi Noguchi was serving a long duration increment on the outpost.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In a marked difference from the entire history of the US human space program (save an overlap in Gemini), Crew-2 will mark the second time \u2014 and first time since December 1965 \u2014 that two US human space missions are in orbit at the same time.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"widget-title penci-border-arrow\">See Also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Crew-2 UPDATES<\/li>\n<li>SpaceX Missions Section<\/li>\n<li>L2 SpaceX Section<\/li>\n<li>Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As part of final preparations for the launch, the crew departed from Ellington Field near the Johnson Space Center in Houston and flew to Kennedy aboard a charter plane Friday.&nbsp; Upon arrival, they were greeted by NASA\u2019s Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk, Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, Manager of ISS operations for ESA Frank de Winne, and Manager for ISS operations for JAXA Junichi Sakai.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow great is it to have the Crew-2 crew here for the third launch of humans to space in less than a year.&nbsp; I mean, what an exciting time for the nation\u2019s human space program,\u201d noted Cabana.&nbsp; Jurczyk added, \u201cI\u2019ve been with NASA 32 years, and it\u2019s been an amazing career and it never ceases to amaze me the talent and bravery of our astronauts and our foreign-partner astronauts.&nbsp; Thank you guys for what you do for NASA and the nation and the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Astronaut Shane Kimbrough, commander of the Crew-2 mission said, \u201cIt is awesome being at Kennedy space center, especially in the launch week.&nbsp; It\u2019s definitely getting real and our crew is extremely well trained from NASA, SpaceX, and international teams.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Pesquet added, \u201cEveryday there is a major milestone, bringing us closer to flight and it makes it more real.&nbsp; The NASA and SpaceX team makes it seem routine, but it\u2019s not; we know it\u2019s not, and we know there\u2019s a lot of work that goes into it and we\u2019d like to thank all those people involved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-77255\" class=\"wp-image-77255 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/crew-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"985\" height=\"657\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/crew-2.jpeg 985w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/crew-2-350x233.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/crew-2-525x350.jpeg 525w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/crew-2-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/crew-2-585x390.jpeg 585w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/crew-2-263x175.jpeg 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 985px) 100vw, 985px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-77255\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crew-2. From left to right, Thomas Pesquet, Megan McArthur, Shane Kimbrough, and Akihiko Hoshide. (Credit: SpaceX)<\/p>\n<p>To that hard work, prior to the crew\u2019s arrival, NASA and SpaceX teams, joined by ESA and JAXA representatives, conducted the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) for the Crew-2 mission on Thursday, April 15.&nbsp; This was the first of two reviews to evaluate the overall readiness of all the teams and flight hardware and software and discuss any pending issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a very moving day,\u201d said Kathy Lueders, Associate Administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA.&nbsp; \u201cHere we are 11 months [after Demo-2] getting ready for the third crewed flight.&nbsp; Looking back, it\u2019s really, really amazing what both the NASA and SpaceX teams have accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The FRR proceeded smoothly \u2014 thanks in large part to the exceptional performance of Crew Dragon <i>Resilience <\/i>during Crew-1 \u2014 with no major issues identified and only one open item to investigate and discuss at the L-2 day Launch Readiness Review.<\/p>\n<p>The open item, for which an exception was asked for and granted unanimously, relates to liquid oxygen load practices of the Falcon 9 first stage.<\/p>\n<p>William Gerstenmaier, Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability, SpaceX, noted that teams at SpaceX\u2019s test facility in McGregor, Texas, discovered something unexpected with the propellant loading configuration for Falcon 9\u2019s first stage.<\/p>\n<p>During a test in Texas, when weather forced them to stop and change configurations, teams noted about three to four inches of additional liquid oxygen in the tank than they predicted they should have.&nbsp; To learn more about this issue, teams physically measured the amount of liquid oxygen loaded into the stage under normal operations and found there was a difference from the predictions, verifying the previous observation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-77257\" class=\"size-full wp-image-77257\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Endeavour-processing.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Endeavour-processing.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Endeavour-processing-350x233.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Endeavour-processing-525x350.jpeg 525w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Endeavour-processing-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Endeavour-processing-585x390.jpeg 585w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Endeavour-processing-263x175.jpeg 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-77257\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crew Dragon Endeavour undergoing reorientation operations in the Horizontal Integration Facility for attachment to the top of the Falcon 9. (Credit: NASA\/SpaceX)<\/p>\n<p>Importantly, no one believes this is an issue or safety concern as all SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets have flown in this configuration; however, as Gerstenmaier related, \u201cWe really pay attention to these really small things.&nbsp; I think in a normal program this amount of difference wouldn\u2019t have mattered to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut in our world, we kinda take the extra step to go review it, look at the consequences, what happens (in the) worst case, what if it\u2019s an indicator of something even more serious?&nbsp; We have those discussions; we\u2019ll share all that data with NASA and make sure we are really ready to go do what we need to go do for the static fire coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The static fire is currently scheduled for Saturday, April 17 at 06:11 EDT \/ 10:11 UTC.&nbsp; Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon <i>Endeavour<\/i> were moved to the pad on Friday morning for launch \u2014 marking the first time in 10 years, since July 8, 2011, that a previously-flown human spacecraft took its place on LC-39A.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, during the Crew-2 FRR press conference, Steve Stich, Commercial Crew Program Manager, NASA, gave insight into the review process for the Dragon and Falcon 9 flight proven hardware being used for the first time on a crewed mission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had to do an extensive amount of work to certify Dragon for reuse and also the Falcon 9.&nbsp; We reviewed over 3,000 products that SpaceX provided us on that vehicle.&nbsp; We had to look at how the structure would perform in the second flight.&nbsp; We went back and looked [to make sure] all the requirements were met, and we made sure that all the hazards for Falcon 9 and Dragon were controlled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stitch also touched on upgrades made to the propulsion systems in the Dragon spacecraft to eliminate titanium valves from certain locations and replace them with stainless steel and inconel in further response to the anomaly that SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon suffered on April 20, 2019, when the spacecraft \u2014 which returned to Earth after the successful, uncrewed Demo-1 mission \u2014 exploded during a static fire test of its SuperDraco abort engines.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"News Update on Upcoming NASA's SpaceX Crew-2 Mission\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9I8lvxoljvw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"fitvid0\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-20=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The cause of the mishap was due to a leaky component which allowed dinitrogen tetroxide to leak out and react violently with the titanium components under very high pressure.<\/p>\n<p>Other propulsion upgrades to <em>Endeavour <\/em>include better fuel flow rates to the SuperDraco abort engines to help increased the maximum wind limits for such an operation.<\/p>\n<p><i>Endeavour\u2019s<\/i> heat shield was also upgraded after NASA and SpaceX discovered more than expected wear at certain heat shield locations after the spacecraft returned to Earth in August 2020.&nbsp; This upgraded heat shield was tested during the CRS-21 mission \u2014 utilizing the upgraded Cargo Dragon spacecraft \u2014 and was certified for flight on Crew-2.<\/p>\n<p>Additional upgrades were made to the battery systems and regular Draco orbital maneuvering thrusters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As for the Falcon 9 booster, no engines were changed from the previous flight, but two turbopumps \u2014 which supply liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene to the main combustion chamber of the engine \u2014 were replaced along with one of the landing legs that was damaged due to a hard landing during the Crew-1 mission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt took about 10 months of intensive review.&nbsp; Super proud of everybody in the NASA and SpaceX teams who went through that review and worked long hours, sometimes nights and weekends to do that work.&nbsp; But we got through it and are in a good posture for the reuse today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-77258\" class=\"size-full wp-image-77258\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FRR.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FRR.jpeg 1280w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FRR-350x233.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FRR-525x350.jpeg 525w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FRR-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FRR-1170x780.jpeg 1170w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FRR-585x390.jpeg 585w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/FRR-263x175.jpeg 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-77258\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kathy Lueders and Steve Stich of NASA at the Crew-2 FRR. (Credit: NASA)<\/p>\n<p>Now at Kennedy, the crew will continue \u201cflight crew health stabilization\u201d \u2014 or quarantine, a routine part of final preparations for all missions to space.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Crews currently quarantine for two weeks before liftoff, both at their homes or in facilities at Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center.&nbsp; While the two week quarantine was in place long before the current COVID-19 pandemic, additional procedures like mask wearing, physical distancing, and other safeguards have been added due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>The astronauts will also be tested twice for COVID as a final precaution before liftoff.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Lead image: Crew Dragon&nbsp;<\/em><em>Endeavour rolls out to LC-39A for launch on the Crew-2 mission.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Thomas Pesquet, and Akihiko Hoshide have arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for their upcoming launch to the International Space Station on the same day their spaceship, the Crew Dragon Endeavour, was moved to its sea-side launch pad. NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting launch of the Crew-2 mission [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[235,1718,1445,246,479,877,190,316],"class_list":["post-25024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crew-dragon","tag-crew-2","tag-endeavour","tag-esa","tag-falcon-9","tag-jaxa","tag-nasa","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25024"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}