NASAs SpaceX Crew-2 astronautson the International Space Station will relocate their Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft Wednesday, July 21, setting the stage for a historic first when two different U.S. commercial spacecraft built for crew will be docked to the microgravity laboratory at the same time.
Live coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT on NASA Television, theNASA app, and the agencyswebsite.
NASA astronautsShane KimbroughandMegan McArthur, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronautAkihikoHoshide,and ESA (European Space Agency) astronautThomasPesquet will board the Crew Dragon spacecraft about 4:30 a.m. and undock from the forward port of the stations Harmony module at 6:45 a.m. The spacecraft will dock again at the stations space-facing port at 7:32 a.m.
The relocation will free up Harmonys forward port for the docking of Boeings CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, scheduled for launch Friday, July 30, as part of NASAs Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission. The flight will test the end-to-end capabilities of Starliner from launch to docking, atmospheric re-entry, and a desert landing in the western United States. The uncrewed mission will provide valuable data about Boeings crew transportation system, and help NASA certify Starliner and the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for regular flights with astronauts to and from the space station.
This will be the second port relocation of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. NASAs SpaceX Crew-2 mission lifted offApril 23 from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docked to the space station April 24. Crew-2, targeted to return in early-to-mid November, is the second of six certified crew missions NASA and SpaceX have planned as a part of the agencys Commercial Crew Program.
