SpaceX: How to Watch Wednesday's Historic Rocket Launch

For the first time in nearly a decade, American astronauts will launch into space from American [...]

By Adam Barnhardt

For the first time in nearly a decade, American astronauts will launch into space from American soil in a rocket built stateside. Wednesday afternoon, SpaceX will launch two astronauts to space atop one of the privately-owned company's Falcon 9 rockets inside a Crew Dragon spacecraft. The mission, which SpaceX and NASA are calling Demo-2, will be taking astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station.

Due to coronavirus-related guidelines in place, both SpaceX and NASA have recommended the masses stay away from the Kennedy Space Center. Rather, the outfit will be having an extensive live stream across its social media platforms, including the YouTube embed above.

The launch is currently scheduled for 4:33 p.m. Eastern on the 27th, though weather could delay it. Streaming coverage begins through the NASA platforms at noon Eastern though news station are likely to begin carrying it much earlier

The full schedule for NASA's live stream of the event can be seen below. All times in Eastern.

  • Wednesday, May 27th
  • 12:15 p.m. – NASA TV launch coverage begins (continues through docking
  • 4:33 p.m. – Liftoff
  • 5:22 p.m. – Crew Dragon phase burn
  • 6:05 p.m. – Far-field manual flight test
  • 7:05 p.m. – Astronaut downlink event from Crew Dragon
  • 7:30 p.m. – Postlaunch news conference at Kennedy
  • Thursday, May 28th
  • 7:20 a.m. – Astronaut downlink event from Crew Dragon
  • 11:39 a.m. – Docking
  • 1:55 p.m. – Hatch Open
  • 2:25 p.m. – Welcome ceremony
  • 4:15 p.m. – Post-Arrival News Conference at Johnson
  • Friday, May 29
  • 11:05 a.m. – Space Station crew news conference, with NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley
  • 12:50 p.m. – SpaceX employee event and Class of 2020 Mosaic presentation, with NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy, Bob Behnken, and Doug Hurley

Though SpaceX has held dozens of launches in the past, this will be the first manned launch the Elon Musk-founded company has held.

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