A week or so will be added to the scheduled NASA space mission launch to accommodate a lunar mission’s departure prior to the mission’s departure from Earth.
SpaceX Launch.
SpaceX Launch Crew Dragon, NASA’s Crew-8 astronauts will now reach space before February 28th, having been delayed from their original February 22nd launch window. This postponement is necessary to allow for the anticipated lunar lander launch by Intuitive Machines from the same launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On Wednesday, February 14, the lunar mission, also known as IM-1, will have its launch window open.
SpaceX Launch Updates.
Due to off-nominal methane temperatures prior to stepping into methane load, the IM-1 launch to the Moon has been postponed. It is now scheduled for 1:05am ET (0605 UTC) Thursday, Feb. 15. https://t.co/SWXMVHy8Xz
For additional updates, see @SpaceX and @Int_Machines. pic.twitter.com/q7vXFaB0RI
— NASA (@NASA) February 14, 2024
In a statement issued on February 13, agency representatives said, “NASA and SpaceX Launch will continue to assess the readiness of Crew-8 and can adjust the launch date after the successful IM-1 launch.” The Crew-7 mission, which left on August 26th for a six- to seven-month assignment aboard the International Space Station, will be replaced by the Crew-8 mission.
NASA astronauts Matthew Dominic (commander), Michael Barratt (pilot), and Janet Epps (mission specialist) make up Crew-8. Alexander Grebenkin, a spacefarer from Roscosmos, is a mission specialist.
SpaceX is using NASA’s Kennedy Space Center pad for both the IM-1 and the ISS Crew flights. The potential change of the Crew-8 launch date is owing to the lunar mission’s limited launch window, which is caused by particular landing conditions needed for the IM-1 lander to arrive on the lunar South Pole.
NASA officials have previously stressed that the IM-1 launch date may be affected, potentially delaying Crew-8 until March or later, if the lunar mission required more time on the pad.
As the only experienced member of the crew, Pilot Barratt has flown twice before, on ISS Expedition 19–20 in 2009 and Space Shuttle’s STS–133 in 2011.
Epps has been a part of two past space projects before being kicked out of training by another NASA ISS crew that was supposed to launch in 2018. After multiple mission delays, she was eventually reassigned to Crew-8 for the Boeing Starliner Crew Launch.
Crew-8, SpaceX Launch eighth operational mission, transports commercial crews to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. In mid-April 2024, Starliner, the other commercial provider, may do its first test flight.