The official crew portrait of the SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts representing NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. From left are, Pilot Robert Hines, Mission Specialists Samantha Cristoforetti and Jessica Watkins, and Commander Kjell Lindgren. Hines, Watkins, and Lindgren are NASA astronauts and Cristoforetti is an ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut. Credit: NASA
NASA and SpaceX are now aiming for a 3:52 a.m. EDT launch of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, April 27, 2022.
Teams opted to postpone a prospective April 26 launch until later in the week, when space station placement and orbital mechanics are more favorable. Crew-4 will have another launch opportunity on Thursday, April 28, as the weather remains a concern heading into next week.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts, from left, Jessica Watson, Bob Hines, and Kjell Lindgren, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti stand outside Kennedy Space Center’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building during a dry dress rehearsal on April 20, 2022. Named Freedom by the Crew-4 crew, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon will carry the astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff will be powered by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Crew-4 will be the first spaceflight for Hines and Watkins and the second flight for Lindgren and Cristoforetti. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
For a Crew-4 launch Wednesday, April 27, NASA will host a prelaunch news teleconference at approximately 9:30 p.m. Monday, April 25, with the following participants:
- Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA Kennedy
- Joel Montalbano, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA Johnson
- Zeb Scoville, flight director, Flight Operations Directorate, Johnson
- Jessica Jensen, vice president, customer operations and integration, SpaceX
- Frank de Winne, manager, International Space Station Program, ESA
- Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, U.S. Space Force 45th Weather Squadron
Additional adjustments to the Crew-4 launch date may be necessary in the event inclement weather prevents an on time splashdown of the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) currently docked to the space station. Ax-1, the first all private astronaut mission to the station, now is targeted to undock from the orbital complex at 6:35 p.m. Saturday, April 23, and splashdown at 1:46 p.m. Sunday, April 24, off the coast of Florida. The Ax-1 crew and Dragon spacecraft remain healthy at the station.
The Crew-4 flight will carry NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, mission commander, Robert Hines, pilot, and Jessica Watkins, mission specialist and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who will serve as a mission specialist, to the space station for a science expedition mission. The astronauts will fly a new Dragon spacecraft, named Freedom, atop a flight proven Falcon 9 rocket. Following docking of Crew-4, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission is expected to complete an approximate five-day handover with Crew-4 before undocking from the space station and returning to Earth.
