SpaceX, NASA Eye Oct. 31 Launch for Crew-1 Mission

SpaceX and NASA plan to launch on Oct. 31 the manned Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station.

A NASA blog post published Monday says the new target date seeks to address the conflict of the Crew-1 mission schedule with the Soyuz spacecraft’s launch and landing and offers an opportunity to carry out additional tests to “isolate the station atmosphere leak if required.”

NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover will respectively serve as mission specialist, commander and pilot on the forthcoming spaceflight. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi will also join the three on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft as mission specialist. 

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon will take off from a launch complex at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to enable the crew to perform science mission at the ISS for six months.

NASA is in the final phase of data assessments needed for certification following the Demo-2 test flight.