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Up Close view of SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft bolted atop Falcon
9 rocket with Crew Access Arm astronaut walkway in position after being raised
vertical at NASA’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida on March 1, 2019 ahead
of scheduled maiden liftoff March 2 at 2:49 a.m. EST on critical unpiloted test
flight on Demo-1 mission. This will lead to return human spaceflight
capabilities to the United States on Demo-2 mission with 2 NASA astronauts
later this year. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Ken Kremer -- SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 1 March
2019
KENNEDY
SPACE CENTER, FL – The first flightworthy
SpaceX Crew Dragon is ready to liftoff on what’s sure to be a spectacular
middle-of-the-night blastoff Saturday morning, March 2 in anticipation of her
critical maiden test flight after NASA and SpaceX managers completed the Launch
Readiness Review (LRR) and gave the “GO” for launch from the Florida Space Coast.
The integrated Falcon
9/Crew Dragon stack stands some 215 feet tall (65 meter) looking positively
glorious this afternoon, Friday, March 1, at T MINUS 12 Hours - as I witnessed
the duo Up Close at historic Launch Complex-39A during our media opportunity to
set up remote cameras to capture the incredible event.
Check out our high resolution Space UpClose
photo gallery of the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft taken inside
the launch pad 39A perimeter fence as they stand poised for liftoff. Check back as the gallery expands.
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Up Close view of SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft bolted atop Falcon
9 rocket with Crew Access Arm astronaut walkway in position after being raised
vertical at NASA’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida on March 1, 2019 ahead
of scheduled maiden liftoff March 2 at 2:49 a.m. EST on critical unpiloted test
flight on Demo-1 mission. This will lead to return human spaceflight
capabilities to the United States on Demo-2 mission with 2 NASA astronauts
later this year. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Launch of the inaugural Crew Dragon on the
Demo-1 (DM-1) mission is scheduled for 2:49 a.m. EST (0749 GMT) Saturday, March 2 from historic Launch
Complex-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. That moment coincides with
the time when Earth’s rotation carries the rocket into the plane
of the space station to enable a successful rendezvous and docking with the
fuel on board.
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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon raised vertical with
Crew Access Arm in position at NASA’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida on
March 1, 2019 ahead of scheduled maiden liftoff March 2 at 2:49 a.m. EST on critical
unpiloted test flight on Demo-1 mission. This will lead to return human
spaceflight capabilities to the United States on Demo-2 mission with 2 NASA
astronauts later this year. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Demo-1 is truly a high stakes mission and the
goal is truly sky high as America seeks to restore its capability to launch
humans to space in an American capsule launching on an American rocket from American
soil – a capability lost when NASA’s shuttles were forcibly retired in 2011.
The inaugural Falcon 9/Crew Dragon stack was
raised vertical at sunset yesterday evening, Thursday, Feb. 28, pointing
gloriously to the heavens under angelic skies -as I observed from the KSC
Launch Complex 39A press site.
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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon go vertical at
sunset Feb. 28, 2019 preparing for critical maiden unpiloted test flight on Demo-1
mission scheduled to launch March 2 at 2:49 a.m. EST from NASA’s historic Launch Complex 39A in
Florida, aiming to return human spaceflight capabilities to the United States. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon raised vertical with
Crew Access Arm in position at NASA’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida on
March 1, 2019 ahead of scheduled maiden liftoff March 2 at 2:49 a.m. EST on critical
unpiloted test flight on Demo-1 mission. This will lead to return human
spaceflight capabilities to the United States on Demo-2 mission with 2 NASA
astronauts later this year. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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The goal of Demo-1 is to carry out a fully autonomous docking to the forward port on the station’s Harmony module some 30 hours after launch to fully simulate a flight with astronauts which will be carried out on the next mission named Demo-2.
The Falcon 9 is a newly built rocket.
The Falcon 9 is outfitted with four landing
legs and four grid fins and will attempt to soft land on the “Of
Course I Still Love You” drone ship (OCISLY) drone ship
at sea in the Atlantic Ocean about 9.5 minutes after liftoff.
Here’s a link to my Fox News 35 Orlando prelaunch interview about the do or die nature of the Demo-1 mission
Watch for Ken’s ongoing onsite mission coverage
of SpaceX Demo-1 mission at the Kennedy Space Center.
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.
………….
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Learn more about the upcoming/recent ULA Delta 4 WGS, SpaceX Demo-1, Falcon 9 Nusantara Satu launch, USAF GPS 3-01, SpaceX Falcon 9/CRS-16 launch to ISS, NASA missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, SpySats and more at Ken’s upcoming outreach events at Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, evenings:
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Learn more about the upcoming/recent ULA Delta 4 WGS, SpaceX Demo-1, Falcon 9 Nusantara Satu launch, USAF GPS 3-01, SpaceX Falcon 9/CRS-16 launch to ISS, NASA missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, SpySats and more at Ken’s upcoming outreach events at Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, evenings:
Mar 1/2/12: “ULA Delta 4 WGS-10
launch, SpaceX Falcon 9 Demo-1 and Nusantara Satu launch, Dragon CRS-16 resupply launch to ISS, SpaceX
Falcon GPS 3-01, SpaceX Falcon Heavy & Falcon 9 launches, upcoming SpaceX
Falcon 9 USAF GP3 3-01, NRO & USAF Spysats, SLS, Orion, Boeing and SpaceX
Commercial crew capsules, OSIRIS-Rex, Juno at Jupiter, InSight Mars lander, Curiosity
and Opportunity explore Mars, NH at Pluto, Kuiper Belt and more,” Kennedy Space
Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, evenings.
Photos for sale
Ken’s
upcoming talks:
Apr 3: “Exploring
Mars; The Search for Life & A Journey in 3-D.” 7 PM, Lawton C
Johnson Middle School, Summit, NJ. Open to the public. Details upcoming.
Latest results from Mars & Ultima Thule
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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon go vertical at
sunset Feb. 28, 2019 preparing for critical maiden unpiloted test flight on Demo-1
mission scheduled to launch March 2 at 2:49 a.m. EST from NASA’s historic Launch Complex 39A in
Florida, aiming to return human spaceflight capabilities to the United States. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Super!!!!!
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