The Agency Level FRR meeting was the final review stage for all relevant elements involving SpaceX, NASA Commercial Crew, and the ISS program, with the milestones, now progressing towards a SpaceX Launch Readiness Review (LRR) a few days prior to the March 2 target.
The mission, called Crew Dragon DM-1 will feature the launch of an unmanned Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Today’s FRR Review involved more than 100 people from NASA and SpaceX, examining the readiness of both the spacecraft and the station to support the mission, reports Space News.
Plan on staying up late on Friday night because the launch is scheduled to take place at 2:48 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, March 2, in an instantaneous launch window from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
An instantaneous launch window is being used to ensure the SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft are precisely timed to lift off at an optimum point in the launch trajectory to reach the space station, which is zooming overhead 249 miles above Earth at 17,500 mph.
The Crew Dragon is scheduled to dock at the ISS one day later and will remained docked there until March 8, when it will undock and splash down several hours later in the Atlantic Ocean.
It is expected that the DM-1 flight test will go well, opening the door to a crewed test flight carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley later this summer. That mission, called DM-2 will take place no earlier than July, depending on what work needs to be done on any issues found during the DM-1 flight test.
Beyond excited to be at SpaceX today for a Commercial Crew update! Here’s what it looks like to climb into a Crew dragon. NASASpaceflight SpaceX 1Ncmn98SKy
— Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) August 13, 2018
