Thread by @weatherindia

.@NASA Targets #Halloween to Launch @SpaceX Crew-1 Mission to Send #Astronauts to International Space Station

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(📸: @nasa)

.@NASA and @SpaceX now are targeting October 31 for the launch of the agency's #SpaceXCrew1 mission with astronauts to the International Space Station (@Space_Station).

The US space agency had earlier targeted October 23 for the launch of the mission which comes after the #SpaceX Demo-2 test flight which flew astronauts Bob Behnken (@AstroBehnken) and Doug Hurley to the space station.

The new target date which falls on Halloween will deconflict the Crew-1 launch and arrival from upcoming #Soyuz launch and landing operations, #NASA said on Monday.

While a #Soyuz capsule launch is scheduled for October 14, a Soyuz departure from the space station is set to take place on October 21.

.@NASA said the additional time is needed to ensure closure of all open work, both on the ground and aboard the station, ahead of the Crew-1 arrival.

The #Crew1 mission will take astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker of @NASA and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the station on the #SpaceXCrewDragon spacecraft on a #Falcon9 rocket.

The launch will be the first time an international crew will fly aboard a #NASA-certified, commercially-owned and operated American rocket and spacecraft from American soil.

Following the launch, the #Crew1 astronauts are scheduled to arrive at the space station for a six-month science mission aboard the orbiting laboratory.

.@NASA said it is in the final stages of the data reviews needed ahead of certification following the agency's @SpaceX Demo-2 test flight.