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A Look at Key Milestones for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Mission – Space Station [1]

['Lyn Haines', 'Mahlubi Mabizela', 'Johan Pretorius']

Date: 2024-03-02

Below are some of the key milestones leading up to the launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission, as well as some critical events that occur after liftoff. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are scheduled to lift off a little more than four hours from now at 11:16 p.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida.

Time Event (All times approximate)

6:56 p.m. Crew weather brief

7:11 p.m. Crew handoff to SpaceX

7:16 p.m. Suit donning and checkouts

7:56 p.m. Crew walkout from Neil A. Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building

8:01 p.m. Crew transportation to Launch Complex 39A

8:21 p.m. Crew arrives at pad and ascends tower

8:41 p.m. Crew ingress

8:46 p.m. Communication check

8:47 p.m. Seat rotation

8:48 p.m. Suit leak checks

9:21 p.m. Hatch close

10:31 p.m. SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load

10:34 p.m. Crew access arm retracts

10:37 p.m. Dragon’s launch escape system is armed

10:41 p.m. RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins

10:41 p.m. 1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins

11:00 p.m. 2nd stage LOX loading begins

11:09 p.m. Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch

11:11 p.m. Dragon transitions to internal power

11:15 p.m. Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks

11:15 p.m. Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins

11:15 p.m. SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch

11:16 p.m. Falcon 9 liftoff

11:17 p.m. Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)

11:18 p.m. 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)

11:18 p.m. 1st and 2nd stages separate

11:18 p.m. 2nd stage engine starts

11:19 p.m. Boostback Burn Starts

11:22 p.m. Boostback Burn Ends

11:22 p.m. 1st stage entry burn starts

11:23 p.m. 1st stage entry burn ends

11:23 p.m. 1st stage landing burn starts

11:23 p.m. 1st stage landing

11:25 p.m. 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1)

11:28 p.m. Dragon separates from 2nd stage

11:29 p.m. Dragon nosecone open sequence begins

NASA’s live coverage of the Crew-8 launch is airing now on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website, and you can follow along on the mission blog, the commercial crew blog, X, and Facebook for continuous coverage of important Crew-8 launch activities.

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[1] Url: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2024/03/02/a-look-at-key-milestones-for-nasas-spacex-crew-8-mission/

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