NASA, SpaceX Invite Media to Crew-1 Mission Update, Target New Launch Date

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Oct 26, 2020, 19:24 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA and SpaceX now are targeting 7:49 p.m. EST Saturday, Nov. 14, for the launch of the first crew rotation mission to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program.

Managers of NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 mission will hold a media teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 28, to discuss the upcoming launch, including results from recent testing of the Falcon 9 Merlin engines following unexpected data SpaceX noted during a recent non-NASA launch. Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency's website.

Briefing participants include:

Kathy Lueders, associate administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington
Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston
Hans Koenigsmann, vice president, Build and Flight Reliability, SpaceX, Hawthorne, California

Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the newsroom at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida no later than 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, at [email protected].

NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 mission will launch the agency's astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission specialist Soichi Noguchi, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy.

Crew-1 astronauts will join the Expedition 64 crew of Commander Sergey Ryzhikov, and Flight Engineers Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins. The arrival of Crew-1 will increase the regular crew size of the space station's expedition missions from six to seven astronauts, adding to the amount of crew time available for research.

The Crew-1 mission will launch a few days after the Nov. 10 scheduled launch of NASA's Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, following a thorough review of launch vehicle performance.

Audio of the teleconference will stream live online at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

For more information about the mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

SOURCE NASA