Live coverage: SpaceX to static fire test its Falcon 9 rocket in preparation for the Polaris Dawn astronaut mission

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands in launch position at Launch Complex 39A, ready to support the Polaris Dawn commercial astronaut mission. Image: SpaceX

The SpaceX and Polaris Dawn teams are working towards some of the final big tests before they are ready to launch the historic commercial mission.

A little less than a week after arriving at Florida’s Space Coast, the four astronauts will step through all the activities they will experience on launch day, including suiting and and climbing aboard the Crew Dragon Resilience, which will be their home during the roughly five-day mission.

Following the activity known as a dry dress rehearsal, SpaceX will clear the pad at Launch Complex 39A in order to conduct a static fire test of its Falcon 9 rocket. The T-0 for ignition is expected at 6:38 a.m. EDT (1038 UTC).

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to ignition.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, B1083 in the SpaceX fleet, will make its fourth trip to space when it launches no earlier than Tuesday morning. It previously launched the Crew-8 mission aboard the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft in March, as well as two Starlink flights.

The SpaceX droneship that will be used to catch the booster following its pending launch, “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” set sail from Port Canaveral Saturday afternoon.

The Polaris Dawn mission will take the four crew members, Jared Isaacman, Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, further than humans have gone since Apollo 17 in 1972 and witness the performance of the first commercial spacewalk.

It comes following more than two-and-a-half years of development work, testing and training across both SpaceX and NASA facilities.

“SpaceX and the teams and the crew, with their help, are continuing to push the envelope of what it takes to go to the Moon and Mars. We take the responsibility that we’ve been entrusted to us to fly the crew and return them safely home,” said William Gerstenmaier, the SpaceX vice president of Build and Flight Reliability, during a prelaunch briefing. “Spaceflight is not easy. Our mission right now is to safely launch Polaris, support their multi-day mission and return them home to their families and friends.”

This is SpaceX’s second launch pad static fire of the month, following a similar test on the first stage booster, B1085, which will be used to launch two people on the Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station. On Saturday, NASA determined that it will send just two people up to the orbiting outpost on this mission in order to preserve room for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to return home.