Below are some of the key milestones leading up to the launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission, as well as some critical events that occur after liftoff. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are scheduled to lift off a little more than four hours from now at 11:16 p.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida.
Time Event (All times approximate)
6:56 p.m. Crew weather brief
7:11 p.m. Crew handoff to SpaceX
7:16 p.m. Suit donning and checkouts
7:56 p.m. Crew walkout from Neil A. Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building
8:01 p.m. Crew transportation to Launch Complex 39A
8:21 p.m. Crew arrives at pad and ascends tower
8:41 p.m. Crew ingress
8:46 p.m. Communication check
8:47 p.m. Seat rotation
8:48 p.m. Suit leak checks
9:21 p.m. Hatch close
10:31 p.m. SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for propellant load
10:34 p.m. Crew access arm retracts
10:37 p.m. Dragon’s launch escape system is armed
10:41 p.m. RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) loading begins
10:41 p.m. 1st stage LOX (liquid oxygen) loading begins
11:00 p.m. 2nd stage LOX loading begins
11:09 p.m. Falcon 9 begins engine chill prior to launch
11:11 p.m. Dragon transitions to internal power
11:15 p.m. Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks
11:15 p.m. Propellant tank pressurization to flight pressure begins
11:15 p.m. SpaceX Launch Director verifies go for launch
11:16 p.m. Falcon 9 liftoff
11:17 p.m. Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
11:18 p.m. 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
11:18 p.m. 1st and 2nd stages separate
11:18 p.m. 2nd stage engine starts
11:19 p.m. Boostback Burn Starts
11:22 p.m. Boostback Burn Ends
11:22 p.m. 1st stage entry burn starts
11:23 p.m. 1st stage entry burn ends
11:23 p.m. 1st stage landing burn starts
11:23 p.m. 1st stage landing
11:25 p.m. 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1)
11:28 p.m. Dragon separates from 2nd stage
11:29 p.m. Dragon nosecone open sequence begins
NASA’s live coverage of the Crew-8 launch is airing now on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website, and you can follow along on the mission blog, the commercial crew blog, X, and Facebook for continuous coverage of important Crew-8 launch activities.
