NASA and SpaceX’s New Update Will Be Given Live For Crew-4 Space Mission

On Friday, Feb. 4, at noon Eastern Standard Time, NASA and SpaceX will have a joint media conference to offer an update on progress toward the agency's SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station.

It is anticipated that Crew-4 will take off on Apr. 15 and land in the microgravity laboratory for a six-month stay. Crew-4 will be the first international crew to visit the laboratory.

In an announcement made Thursday afternoon (Feb. 3) by NASA, the agency said that NASA and SpaceX were looking into parachute inflation delays that occurred during several recent Dragon capsule landings.

When it starts, it will be at 12 p.m. EST (1700 GMT) and will be broadcast live at the specified time above.

SpaceX Crew 4 Mission

Crew-4, a SpaceX mission to transport four people to the International Space Station, is presently expected to launch on Apr. 15 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

According to NASA, the crew consists of NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, commander; Robert Hines, pilot; Jessica Watkins, mission specialist; and Samantha Cristoforetti, mission specialist, from the European Space Agency.

It will be SpaceX's fifth crewed launch for NASA and its sixth overall, including the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission, which took place in September but did not dock with the space station, according to the company.

NASA and SpaceX

When a SpaceX CRS-24 cargo ship splashed down off the coast of Florida on Jan. 24, one of the ship's four primary parachutes did not deploy in time due to a delay in the opening of the other three.

The delayed opening did not prevent the capsule from splashing down and finally becoming completely inflated, but a similar scenario occurred on November 8, 2021, when a Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA's Crew-2 passengers splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

According to Space.com, the crew made a safe landing, however one of their capsule's four primary parachutes deployed around 75 seconds later than the other three.

A multi-billion-dollar NASA contract to transport humans to and from the International Space Station is being fulfilled by SpaceX, one of only two commercial businesses with such a deal. SpaceX uses their Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rockets to accomplish this.

In addition to SpaceX and NASA, Boeing aims to send astronauts on its own Starliner spacecraft and Atlas V rockets in the near future. However, the company must first complete a second uncrewed test flight later this year before launching its first crewed mission.

SpaceX Crew 4 Space Mission

Using pictures from the CRS-24 splashdown and physical components from the spacecraft's parachute system, NASA and SpaceX are collaborating to understand the spacecraft better.

According to NASA, known as Crew-4, it will be the fourth crew rotation trip for SpaceX's human space transportation system. The company's fifth journey with humans, including the Demo-2 test flight, to the International Space Station part of the NASA Commercial Crew Program.

From NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the mission will be launched on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and a Falcon 9 rocket using the company's own Falcon 9 rocket.

Furthermore, Click Orlando reported that, In addition to William Gerstenmaier, Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX, Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator of NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate, Steve Stich, manager of the NASA Commercial Crew Program, and Joel Montalbano, manager of the agency's International Space Station Program, will be present for the news briefing on Friday (Feb. 4).