SpaceX Launch America Livestream: Watch Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon Liftoff Live Online
The historic SpaceX Falcon 9 launch is set to take place at 3:22 p.m. ET. Weather permitting, the Crew Dragon spacecraft is set to carry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), docking with it on Sunday at 10:29 a.m. ET.
The original launch, scheduled for Wednesday, May 27, was called off shortly before liftoff due to storms around the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
NASA will be providing live coverage of Sunday's launch starting at 11 a.m. ET on NASA TV. If the launch goes to plan, astronauts Robert Behnken and Doug Hurley will depart the spacecraft and enter the ISS at 1:05 p.m. ET.
You can access NASA TV via several platforms on televisions, computers and mobile devices through NASA Live, YouTube, the NASA App for iOS and the NASA App for Android.
You can also follow the coverage via one of the space agency's social media channels including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitch.tv.
Watch NASA and SpaceX Launch Astronauts to Space!Watch history unfold on Saturday, May 30, as NASA and SpaceX launch astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station. This mission marks the first time since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011 that humans will fly to the space station from U.S. soil. The first launch attempt on May 27 was scrubbed due to weather.Set a reminder to tune for joint NASA/SpaceX coverage starting at 11 a.m. EDT, with liftoff currently targeted for 3:22 p.m. EDT. 🚀
Posted by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Wednesday, May 27, 2020
The launch will also be covered by National Geographic and ABC News, which are collaborating to provide a live-steaming and television event starting 3:00 p.m. ET on Saturday. If the launch is successful, the coverage will continue on Sunday when the Crew Dragon spacecraft is expected to dock with the ISS.
If the launch is postponed again, the next proposed time of Sunday May 31 at approximately 2:59 p.m. ET, National Geographic and ABC will move the planned show, with coverage beginning instead at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.
National Geographic will be providing coverage to viewers via The Nat Geo TV app on all devices, NatGeo.TV.com, Hulu and YouTube.
The Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission—set to be the first crewed launch from American soil in nearly a decade—was postponed less than 17 minutes from launch due to stormy weather conditions along Florida's Atlantic coast.
"I know there's a lot of disappointment today, the weather got us," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Wednesday. "But I also want to say this was a great day for NASA, it was a great day for SpaceX. I think our teams worked together in a really impressive way making good decisions all along.
"So here in this particular case we just simply had too much electricity in the atmosphere. There was a concern that if we did launch it could actually trigger lightning. And so we made the right decision."
Bridenstine said NASA and SpaceX would not be pressurized into going ahead with the launch if the conditions are not right. "I get asked over and over again, is there undue pressure here?" he said. "People say to me, with all of the attention of the world on this launch, with all of the VIPs coming, are you going to feel pressure on this launch?
"And I will tell you, as I've told our teams, under no circumstances should anybody feel pressure. If we are not ready to go, we simply do not go. I am proud, so proud of our teams working together to make the right decision in this particular case."
Discussing the significance of the event, former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino previously told Newsweek: "This launch represents the realization of a decades' long dream to migrate part of human space exploration to private companies. Up until now it has only been governments that have launched people into space. From now on it will be private companies as well. Similar to when the first commercial airline flights began, I think the world will be changed forever.
"Watching the launch will be exciting, but understanding the passion and dedication of the thousands of people that made it possible will be inspiring. It will be a blast of good news which is needed at this difficult time."
