Replace July 28, 7:14 p.m. EDT: Added NASA remark relating to aborted static hearth.
A difficulty with an indicator linked to the transporter erector prompted SpaceX to abort its deliberate mid-afternoon rocket engine firing on Monday designed to confirm the well being of the Falcon 9 rocket that can carry 4 people as much as the Worldwide House Station this week. The three astronauts and one cosmonaut of the mission, dubbed Crew-11, will perform a long-duration keep onboard the orbiting outpost with liftoff deliberate for Thursday, July 31.
The launch firm fueled its 70-meter-tall rocket at Launch Complicated 39A at NASA’s Kennedy House Heart and appeared on monitor to ignite the 9 Merlin engines for a roughly 10-second-long burn. The operation is known as a static hearth check, because the maintain down clamps holding the rocket in place aren’t deliberate to launch forward of engine ignition as they may on launch day.
Nonetheless, about 30 seconds earlier than the deliberate burn was set to start at 3:09 p.m. EDT (1909 UTC), the sturdy again was noticed returning to its pre-static hearth place. NASA issued a press release describing the difficulty on social media about 3.5 hours later and saying that groups will strive once more on Tuesday, July 29.
“Monday’s check auto-aborted at T-57 seconds because of an error with the transporter erector’s cradle arm place indication,” NASA wrote. “The arm functioned appropriately and groups are reviewing information. Falcon 9 and Dragon stay wholesome on the pad forward of Thursday, July 31’s focused launch, pending static hearth and launch readiness.”
The static hearth try got here three hours after the conclusion of a dry gown rehearsal through which the astronauts board the Dragon with the Falcon 9 un-fueled.
SpaceX is utilizing Falcon 9 first stage booster serial quantity B1094 for the Crew-11 mission. The rocket is flying for a 3rd time, having beforehand launched Starlink 12-10 on April 29 adopted by Axiom Mission 4 on June 25.
The booster isn’t any stranger to anomalies throughout a prelaunch marketing campaign. Forward of the Ax-4 mission, the booster additionally skilled a liquid oxygen leak that turned obvious through the static hearth check. SpaceX officers mentioned this stemmed from a leak that sprung up through the booster’s touchdown on a droneship amid the Starlink 10-12 mission in late April.
Previous to the launch of that non-public astronaut mission, William Gerstenmaier, the vice chairman of Construct and Flight Reliability for SpaceX, mentioned that the leak was being addressed on the pad. He mentioned that groups put in a nitrogen purge to mitigate the leak and likewise addressed a thrust vector management downside that arose as effectively.
The absolutely built-in rocket rolled out of the hangar at LC-39A round midnight heading into Sunday morning. The rocket was introduced into the launch place shortly earlier than 10 a.m. EDT (1400 UTC) Sunday and the crew entry arm swung out to place itself alongside the Crew Dragon Endeavour.
Timelapse of Dragon and Falcon 9 going vertical at pad 39A pic.twitter.com/OjSiqO1yya
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 27, 2025
Mission commander and NASA astronaut Zena Cardman and her three crew mates arrived at KSC on Saturday afternoon within the midst of their deliberate quarantine interval, which is normal for missions to the ISS. She and Oleg Platonov, a Roscosmos cosmonaut and considered one of two mission specialists, might be flying to house for the primary time.
NASA astronaut and pilot Mike Fincke is returning to house for a fourth time. Japanese Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA) astronaut and mission specialist Kimiya Yui is making his second journey to the ISS.
The crew will dwell and work onboard the station for a minimum of six months. NASA and its worldwide companions are contemplating extending the nominal mission to eight months to extra carefully align with the shifting timelines being put in place by Russia with its Soyuz missions.
A last resolution on the mission size isn’t anticipated till a couple of month or so after Crew-11 docks with the ISS.
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