#Spacex launch live tv#

… We are holding hands, we are working together for the betterment of humanity and just trying to innovate,” he said during a news briefing Tuesday. Saudi Arabia has faced a barrage of criticism from the Biden administration and Congress over its human rights record, though the ties between the US and Saudi Arabia remain strong.ĪlQarni said he believes Arabs’ participation in spaceflight is a “great opportunity” that can inspire the region. The first was Prince Sultan bin Salman, who spent about a week on a NASA space shuttle mission in 1985. “But I’ve really enjoyed it.”īarnawi and AlQarni will be only the second and third Saudis to travel to space. “That’s been one of the biggest challenges for me is learning this particular spacecraft,” she said. Whitson has flown on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft as well as NASA’s space shuttle, but she said preparing for this mission was “obviously different” because it involved training to operate SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which has only been flying astronauts since 2020. The Axiom Ax-2 Prime crew members, from left to right: John Shoffner, Rayyanah Barnawi, Peggy Whitson, and Ali Alqarni, will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Her extensive experience on the station made her a US record holder for the most cumulative days logged in space. Whitson will be returning to the space station for the first time since 2017.

During that time, they’ll work through a lineup of more than 20 investigations and science projects - including stem cell and other biomedical research. The AX-2 crew will spend about eight days on the space station. The Crew Dragon capsule, which is fully autonomous, is expected to dock with the space station early Monday, with its passengers joining seven astronauts already aboard the orbiting laboratory.

“I am very honored and happy to be representing all the dreams and all the hopes of all the people in Saudi Arabia and all the women back home,” Barnawi told reporters last week. Saudi Arabia also paid to fly two citizens: Barnawi and Ali AlQarni, a fighter pilot in the Royal Saudi Air Force. Joining her will be three paying customers, including John Shoffner, an American who made his fortune in the international telecom business and founded the hardware company Dura-Line Corp. With this mission, Whitson will become the first woman to command a private spaceflight. The AX-2 crew will be led by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, 63, now an Axiom employee. This mission is the next in a lineup of flights that Axiom Space and NASA hope will continue to spur private sector participation in spaceflight - particularly in low Earth orbit, where the space station lies.

More extensive delays could follow after that because NASA needs to get a SpaceX cargo mission off the ground. If the mission does not lift off Sunday, SpaceX can make another launch attempt on Monday, though there’s an 80% chance the weather won’t be clear enough for launch. “Really the only thing we’re going to have to watch for is the anvil coming off the top of those thunderstorms,” Cizek said. Though, he added, Sunday’s weather is looking “pretty decent.”

Brian Cizek, a weather official with the US Space Force, noted that Florida is entering the summer wet season when daily thunderstorms tend to roll through the area. Officials will be keeping a close eye on the weather. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ET Sunday, with liftoff expected at 5:37 p.m.

#Spacex launch live tv#

And coverage will begin on NASA TV at 4:30 p.m. The mission, called AX-2, will also make history as stem cell researcher Rayyanah Barnawi is set to become the first woman from Saudi Arabia to travel to space.Ī live stream of the launch began on YouTube Sunday afternoon. Their journey, put together by the Houston-based company Axiom, will be the second all-private mission to the orbiting outpost. SpaceX is set to launch four passengers - including three paying customers - toward a weeklong stay aboard the International Space Station.