Watch: NASA and SpaceX’s most anticipated rocket launch of the year [live stream]

It’s a big day for Americans today. SpaceX and NASA will make history by sending the first crewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in nearly a decade. On 26 May, SpaceX confirmed:

“Team is performing additional pre-flight checkouts of Falcon 9, Crew Dragon, and the ground support system ahead of tomorrow’s Demo-2 mission. Weather forecast for launch is 60% favourable”.

SpaceX and NASA launch, 27 May 2020

Date and Time

It’s been nearly a decade since NASA’s spaceflight program was halted, which meant that American astronauts had to rely on Russian Soyuz rockets for crewed flights to and from the ISS.

NASA has partnered with SpaceX to make history on 27 May 2020, at 16:33 Eastern Time (22:33 South African Standard Time SAST) by sending the two astronauts to the ISS.

Watch the historic launch live

NASA and SpaceX provide joint, live coverage from launch to arrival at the space station. The teams are targeting 22:33 SAST for the launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

NASA live stream

NASA’s stream will go live at 18:00 on 27 May.

SpaceX live stream

We’ll add the Spacex live stream as soon as it becomes available.

Why is the NASA/SpaceX launch a big deal?

The May mission will be a milestone for NASA, which has had trouble turning the page on the space shuttle era. Shuttles transported American astronauts into space for three decades, however, two shuttles blew up.

NASA subsequently abandoned the space shuttle program in 2011 and turned to private industry to develop its next-generation spacecraft. SpaceX developed Crew Dragon and Boeing developed the Starliner.

The team confirmed back on 17 April 2020 that the SpaceX Crew Dragon rocket will send two American astronauts to the ISS, for the first time since 2011, when the Space Shuttle program came to an end.

SpaceX has made 15 unmanned trips to the ISS since 2012, to deliver supplies to the crew aboard the station. However, today’s launch will be a bit different: two humans are tagging along for the ride.

Launch location

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon will off from Launch Complex 39A – the same place Saturn V launched humanity to the Moon and from where the first and final Space Shuttle missions lifted off.

Watch: Saturn V from Complex 39A

Who will SpaceX be sending to the ISS?

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley have been training for years for the mission, which would move the United States closer to no longer being reliant on Russia for crewed flights.

Behnken and Douglas have been flying to the ISS on Soyuz rockets since the US shuttle program ended nine years ago.

Hurley said, “it’s been a long road”; he is looking forward to being one of the first humans to fly in the Crew Dragon capsule.

Image via spacex.com