Following the delayed launch of essentially the most recent Falcon Heavy launch, NASA and SpaceX have pushed the Crew 7 launch to August twenty fifth.
The delay within the launch is attributable to turning the pad over from its Falcon Heavy configuration to a Crew launch configuration. This may give the teams on the bottom more time to be sure that the whole lot is prepared for the Crew 7 launch.
While it could appear easy to only roll the Falcon 9 out to the pad and launch after a Falcon Heavy launch, ground systems staff must first switch the response frame from Falcon Heavy to Falcon 9 setups. The response frame is what the bottom of the rockets attach to on the launch pad. The clamps that hold Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9 are different and may’t be used interchangeably.
Teams with @NASA and @SpaceX at the moment are targeting no sooner than 3:49 a.m. ET on Friday, Aug. 25 to launch Crew-7 to the @Space_Station.
Learn more: https://t.co/keatfaIEtg pic.twitter.com/4fJEqQT15s
— NASA Industrial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) August 3, 2023
One other change they should make is to the highest of the transporter erector from a fairing configuration to a capsule configuration. When there’s a satellite in a fairing attached the highest of the T/E has supports and various power connections running to the rocket and for Crew/Cargo configurations which might be removed so the Crew Access Arm has room to swing into place.
The delay also gives NASA more leeway within the International Space Stations schedule for other vehicles visiting the Space Station and provides consecutive launch opportunities if the August twenty fifth attempt is delayed further.
Crew 7 will feature NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli (Mission Commander), European Spacey Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen (Pilot), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa (Mission Specialist), and Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov (Mission Specialist).
The Crew Dragon making this trip can be Crew Dragon Endurance, which most recently flew the Crew 5 mission in March 2023 and has spent ~333 days in space.
If the launch occurs on August twenty fifth, the 4 person crew will dock with the ISS around 2:45 a.m. ET on August twenty sixth following a few 23-hour trip from launch to docking.