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WG3K > ANS 18.02.24 02:00z 55 Lines 2548 Bytes #999 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : $ANS049.1
Read: GUEST
Subj: SpaceX Delays Crew-8 Astronaut Launch to Make Way for Privat
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Sent: 240218/0141Z 1026@WG3K.#SMD.MD.USA.NOAM LinBPQ6.0.24
To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE, Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002
DATE 2024 Feb 18
SpaceX Delays Crew-8 Astronaut Launch to Make Way for Private Moon Mission
NASAs next astronaut launch will delay nearly a week to let a moon mission
leave Earth first.
NASAs Crew-8 astronauts, who will launch on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, will fly
to space no earlier than Feb. 28. The delay from Feb. 22 will make room for
the expected launch of Intuitive Machines moon lander from the same launch
pad at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Odysseus, a robotic lunar lander built by the Houston-based company
Intuitive Machines, lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASAs
Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida early in the morning on Thursday,
Feb. 15.
If all goes according to plan, Odysseus (designated IM-1) will touch down
near the moons south pole on Feb. 22, becoming the first-ever private
spacecraft to ace a lunar landing. Success would also be a big deal for the
United States, which hasnt been to the lunar surface since NASAs Apollo
17 mission more than half a century ago.
“NASA and SpaceX will continue to assess Crew-8 readiness and may adjust
the Crew-8 launch date following a successful IM-1 launch,” agency
officials wrote in a statement on Feb. 13, while announcing the delay. The
astronaut mission will serve as relief for Crew-7, which flew to space on
Aug. 26 for an International Space Station mission expected to last six or
seven months.
*SpaceX Crew-8 crew. From left to right: Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander
Grebenkin, NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, KD5MIJ, NASA astronaut Matthew
Dominick, KCØTOR, and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps, KF5QNU.*
Crew-8 includes NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, KCØTOR (commander),
Michael Barratt, KD5MIJ (pilot), and Jeanette Epps, KF5QNU (mission
specialist), along with Roscosmos cosmonaut and mission specialist
Alexander Grebenkin.
Both the ISS crew and the IM-1 launch are using a pad SpaceX leases at
NASAs Kennedy Space Center. The moon mission has a fairly narrow launch
window as the IM-1 lander needs specific landing conditions to land at the
lunar south pole, which is part of why the launch date for Crew-8 may be
adjusted.
Crew-8, as the name implies, is the eighth crewed operational mission by
SpaceX that sends commercial crews to the ISS on NASAs behalf. Starliner,
the second vendor, may fly its first test crew in mid-April 2024.
[ANS thanks Space.com for the above information.]
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