To prepare for NASA’s Crew-9 mission, SpaceX fired the nine Merlin first-stage engines of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket during a routine static fire test on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The successful static fire test allows NASA and SpaceX to move forward with launch operations to send NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the International Space Station.
Teams plan to roll the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket back to the SpaceX hangar Wednesday, Sept. 25, to prepare for any weather impacts along the Space Coast due to Hurricane Helene, which is expected to make landfall near the Florida panhandle on Thursday, Sept. 26.
NASA and SpaceX also participated Tuesday in a countdown dry dress rehearsal in preparation for the upcoming launch. Rehearsal included Hague and Gorbunov getting into their spacesuits inside the crew quarters at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew also took an elevator to the ground floor, exited the building’s double doors, and got into vehicles that took them to the launch pad. Once at Space Launch Complex-40, the duo then climbed into the Dragon spacecraft and rehearsed launch day operations.
Launch is targeted for no earlier than 1:17 p.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 28, from Space Launch Complex-40.
More details about the launch will be posted on the mission blog, @commercial_crew on X, or commercial crew on Facebook.