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The SpaceX Crew Dragon will head to the ISS on its first test flight.
NASA
We've seen SpaceX's Crew Dragon hurdle multiple delays and survive the scrutiny of a flight readiness review, and we are finally ready to watch the capsule escape from this planet with the help of a Falcon 9 rocket.
Space fans in the United States will be waiting for you in the city. Uncrewed Demonstration 1 (Demo-1) mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA has scheduled the launch for 11:49 PM PT on Friday, Mar. 1 (2:49 pm ET on Saturday, Mar. 2) and will broadcast the proceedings live on NASA TV starting at 11 PM PT on Friday evening.
As of Friday, the forecast looked good for the weekend, with meteorologists predicting at 80 percent chance of favorable weather.
Demo-1 will mark a serious step forward for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which involves SpaceX and Boeing working to launch astronauts from US soil.
Soyuz spacecraft. It's been buying rides on the Roscosmos board since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011.
While SpaceX has flown Dragon cargo capsules to the International Space Station, the crew is longer and heavier and designed to hold four astronauts.
On Thursday, SpaceX and NASA got the Falcon 9 rocket upright at the historic Launch Complex 39A, the same pad many astronauts departed from NASA's Space Shuttle era.
This Crew Dragon test mission will carry crew supplies and equipment on board. It will also have a special guest dummy, with Elon Musk introducing "Ripley" to the world on Thursday.
The dummy will remain in the Crew Dragon capsule and contains a full body of sensors that will enable SpaceX to get a better feel for what's happening inside the capsule. She gets her name from the famous badass space warrant officer made famous in the Alien franchise, Ellen Ripley.
"Actually having a reentry, with Ripley in the seat, in the position, is critical," said Kathy Lueders, manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, during a pre-flight media conference.
The capsule will remain docked at the Atlantic Ocean for recovery.
NASA has been referred to as an uncrewed test flights as "dress rehearsals for missions with astronauts aboard the vehicles."
If Demo-1 goes well, NASA and SpaceX will lock it in for another safety test – the "in-flight abort test." That will ensure the systems used in an emergency situation, where the capsule might need to be jettisoned away from the rocket, are all in working order. Once NASA and SpaceX are happy, then it's time for the real deal: sending astronauts up on a Crew Dragon scheduled to launch in mid-2019.
First published Feb. 27, 3:49 p.m. PT
Update, March 1, 3 a.m PT: Additional information about launch, Ripley.
Update, March 1, 10:19 AM PT: Weather conditions as of Friday.
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