SpaceX, NASA roll out Falcon 9 in final preparations for Crew-8 mission

Cape Canaveral, FL — SpaceX and NASA plan to launch a Falcon 9 rocket, with a Dragon capsule carrying three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut, on Friday, March 1st.

The rocket, for Dragon’s eighth spaceflight mission, was rolled out to the launch pad on Monday.

The Crew-8 mission will head to the International Space Station after taking off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.

The launch window opens just after midnight, at 12:04 a.m. on Friday. If the launch doesn’t go on time, a backup opportunity is available on the same day at 11:41 p.m.

While at the International Space Station, the four person crew will conduct of 200 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations.

Crew-8 Team:

• Matthew Dominick, NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy Commander
• Dr. Michael R. Barratt, Pilot
• Jeanette Epps, Aerospace Engineer and NASA astronaut,
• Alexander Grebenkin, Russian Cosmonaut

The Dragon spacecraft supporting the Crew-8 mission previously flew the Demo-2, Crew-2, Ax-1, and Crew-6 missions to and from the ISS.

Watch the launch live on @SpaceX’s X account, about one hour prior to launch.

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