Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
More On:
nasa
-
Stream It Or Skip It: ‘For All Mankind’ Season 4 on Apple TV+, Where The Sci-Fi Drama Adds Way More Mars To Its Imagined History
-
Stream It Or Skip It: 'Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine' on Netflix, a Shallow, But Compelling Documentary About the James Webb Space Telescope
-
Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Good Night Oppy’ on Amazon Prime Video, a Genial Documentary Chronicling the "Lives" of NASA's Mars Rovers
-
NASA's DART Mission: How To Watch The IRL 'Armageddon' Crash a Spacecraft Into an Asteroid Live and Online
For the first time in nearly a decade, the U.S. will send two astronauts into space with an American rocket on American soil. SpaceX, a company founded by Elon Musk 18 years ago, will launch its first people into orbit with a livestream event today. (UPDATE @ 4:23pm: Uncooperative weather has forced this mission to be rescheduled, likely on Saturday, May 30.)
Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be sent into space this afternoon in the Crew Dragon spaceship during the Demo-2 mission, which is an especially significant one for America. Since 2011, the U.S. Space Agency has relied on Russia to get to and from the International Space Station, but today’s SpaceX launch is the first time in nine years that the U.S. will launch a manned space flight to the International Space Station from home soil, according to Business Insider.
The historic space mission is also the first time NASA has partnered with a private company to take astronauts into space, making the launch a big moment for SpaceX, as well. Because of the coronavirus, crowds will not be allowed at the launch site to witness the event. But the good news is that there are plenty of ways to watch the Crew Dragon spacecraft liftoff.
Here’s everything you need to know to catch the history-making mission live:
When Is The SpaceX Launch?
The SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket will officially launch the Crew Dragon from the Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County, Florida today, May 27.
What Time Is The SpaceX Launch?
Start time depends on which platform you’re watching from. The official schedule for the Launch America event lists 4:33/3:33c as takeoff time, which will not vary across platforms. If you choose to stream the rocket launch from SpaceX’s livestream, their coverage begins four hours prior to launch at 12:30/11:30c. NASA will begin their coverage starting at noon EST today.
In case of inclement weather, SpaceX has scheduled backup launch dates for Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31.
How to Watch The SpaceX Launch:
The SpaceX launch is available across multiple platforms, but you’ll be watching different content on each one prior to the launch. Here are your options in order of start time:
- 11/10c: The American Museum of Natural History will begin streaming the event on their YouTube channel this morning and will air a launch party featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson starting at 4:05/3:05c.
- Noon EST: Watch the Crew Dragon live from the launchpad on NASATV YouTube channel, which will also show the spaceship in orbit and docking at the space station.
- 12:30/11:30c: The SpaceX YouTube channel will host a livestream with NASA, and will feature engineer John Insprucker in their coverage.
- 2/1c: Katy Perry will perform in the Discovery and Science Channel coverage of the launch, which will be broadcast on the Discovery Channel and on DiscoveryGo.
- 3/2c: National Geographic and ABC News are teaming up for a two-hour report and interviews with NASA astronauts, which will stream on the ABC News YouTube channel.
- 3:30/2:30c: The Museum of Flight will host a watch party with retired astronaut Wendy Lawrence and other space experts, available to stream on their YouTube channel.
However you choose to watch, just make sure you’re on time for the main event at 4:33/3:33c, when the Crew Dragon heads into space.
