On May 23, 2020, Demo-2 crew members Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley took part in the countdown dress rehearsal ahead of the launch. At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, they performed all the procedures that will be performed on the day of the Demo-2 mission launch.
After July 21, 2011, for the first time, any manned mission will be launched from American Earth into space. That too from American Rocket. That is, after nine years, the US space agency NASA will send astronauts from their space center in indigenous rockets and send them for continued, long-duration missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will be mounted on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket, which will be launched from Florida’s launch complex 39A. During the Demo-2 mission, Robert Behnken will determine the docking of the spacecraft, the attachment to the space station, docking, and undocking, and determine its path. At the same time, Douglas Hurley will be responsible for the launch, landing, and recovery of the Dragon spacecraft.
About 12 minutes after launch, Crew Dragon will enter orbit. Then it will continue on its own to the ISS. Separated from the ship, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket will return to Earth. If the launch takes place according to plan – scheduled at 4:33 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 27, from Launch Pad 39A – then on May 28, the astronauts will open the hatches and go to the ISS.
If something goes wrong during the launch, the Crew Dragon crew will launch an emergency separation from the rocket. In this case, the parachute ship will land in one of several possible zones in the Atlantic Ocean. It is not yet known how long Crew Dragon will stay on the ISS. The exact time depends on what happens to the spaceship in space and the conditions for completing a new mission.
Let us tell you that the Space-X Dragon capsule can spend time in space for 210 days at a time. After the success of this mission, America will not have to take support to Russia and European countries to send their astronauts to space.
The live broadcast of the launch will be shown on NASA and the SpaceX website. The US Space Agency urged people not to come to Florida personally in connection with the pandemic. Residents of European countries will have the opportunity to see the flight of the ship.
