Where to watch the historic SpaceX Crew-1 launch this Saturday

Lia Rovira in HUMAN WORLD | SPACE | November 12, 2020

SpaceX is targeting Saturday, November 14, 2020, for the historic launch of Crew-1, the 1st operational, contracted mission to launch as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Here’s how to watch the launch. If all goes according to plan, the crew will dock with the International Space Station on Sunday.


SpaceX is targeting 7:49 p.m. EST (that’s 00:49 UTC the following day) on Saturday, November 14, 2020, for the launch of Crew-1 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crew-1 is the first operational, contracted mission to launch as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. If all goes according to plan, the Crew Dragon – which the Crew-1 astronauts nicknamed Resilience – will dock with the International Space Station at around 4:04 a.m. EST (09:04 UTC) on Sunday.

Live launch coverage will begin at 20:30 UTC (3:30 p.m. EST), which you can stream anywhere via NASA TV or the SpaceX website. The launch date is subject to change, however, depending on weather and technical factors; it’s been previously delayed from October due to technical issues concerning Merlin rocket engines on the Falcon 9.

The Crew-1 spaceflyers – NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins and Shannon Walker and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi – will stay on board the space station for a six-month mission, and have already begun their final preparations before liftoff. Their shiny new Falcon 9 ride to orbit rolled out to Pad 39A overnight on November 10 for a planned prelaunch static fire test today. That test is a part of normal launch procedures for SpaceX and ensures that the rocket is ready for flight.