SpaceX Crew-11 launch on tap just after noon with chance for sonic boom
The Crew-11 mission flying on a Falcon 9 rocket is set to lift off from KSC's Launch Pad 39-A at 12:09 p.m. carrying NASA astronaut and commander Zena Cardman, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
The quartet, who arrived to KSC on Saturday, will be riding in the Crew Dragon Endeavour making its fleet-leading sixth trip to space. It was the same Crew Dragon that flew the first astronauts for SpaceX back in 2020, and now part of a stable of five crew-capable Dragons. With Crew-11's launch, SpaceX will have flown 74 humans across 19 missions in just over five years.
The first-stage booster for this mission is making its third flight and will aim for what will be SpaceX's final use of Landing Zone 1 at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX warns of the possibility that one or more sonic booms could be heard across parts of Central Florida including Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Indian River, Seminole, Volusia, Polk, St. Lucie, and Okeechobee counties. The last use of the landing zone during the Axiom Space Ax-4 launch had reports of the boom heard as far as Lake County.
Space Launch Delta 45's weather squadron forecasts a 90% chance for good conditions at the launch site, and weather is forecast to be within safety margins along the ascent corridor off the U.S. East Coast that needs to be good in the event of an emergency abort. There are backup options on Aug. 1-3, but weather gets worst along that corridor in the next few days.
After liftoff, the crew have a 39-hour trip to the space station with docking planned for around 3 a.m. Saturday. They go to relieve the Crew-10 members who have been on board since mid-March, but won't undock until they complete a short handover period during with the space station population will grow from seven to 11. The Crew-10 return is slated for around Aug. 5 with a return off the coast of California.
Crew-11 will be on the station for at least six months, but NASA could stretch the mission to as long as eight months.
For its members, Cardman and Platonov are rookies while Yui is making his second trip having flown to the station a decade ago, and Fincke is making his fourth trip to space having last flown to the station as part STS-134, the last flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour, as well as two previous missions on Soyuz spacecraft.
NASA astronaut and pilot Michael Fincke gives a handoff wave to Crew-11 crewmate JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yu as NASA astronaut and commander Zena Cardman, left, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, right, look on after they arrived to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025 ahead of their planned launch this week to the International Space Station. (Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel) The four members of Crew-11 arrive to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025 ahead of their planned launch this week to the International Space Station. From left to right are NASA astronaut and commander Zena Cardman, NASA astronaut and pilot Michael Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov along with his translator. (Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel) The four members of Crew-11 climb off the plane after arriving to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025 ahead of their planned launch this week to the International Space Station. Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov leads the way followed by JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui, NASA astronaut and pilot Michael Fincke and finally From left to right are NASA astronaut and commander Zena Cardman. (Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel) NASA astronaut Michael Fincke, right, raises some bunny ears behind the head Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov while posing for photos with their Crew-11 crewmates, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman and JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui, after arriving to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025 ahead of their planned launch this week to the International Space Station. (Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel) NASA astronaut and pilot Michael Fincke cracks a joke causing JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui to break into laughter after they and their fellow Crew-11 crewmates, NASA astronaut and commander Zena Cardman and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, arrived to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025 ahead of their planned launch this week to the International Space Station. (Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel) NASA astronaut Michael Fincke talks about how he started to bald after going to space causing laughter from Crew-11 crewmate and JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui after they arrived to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025 ahead of their planned launch this week to the International Space Station. (Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel) The four crew members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station train inside a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in Hawthorne, California. From left to right: Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, and JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui. (Courtesy/SpaceX) Show Caption1 of 8The four members of Crew-11 arrive to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025 ahead of their planned launch this week to the International Space Station. From left to right are NASA astronaut and commander Zena Cardman, NASA astronaut and pilot Michael Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov along with his translator. (Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel)Expand
Cardman had originally been tapped to command the Crew-9 mission, but was bumped after NASA needed space on board to allow for the return flight to the two Boeing Starliner astronauts that were left behind on the station when their spacecraft was sent home without crew because of safety concerns.
Fincke and Yui had both been training to fly future crewed missions of Starliner, but were shifted to this SpaceX mission as Boeing's beleaguered spacecraft continues to face delays.
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