With only one day to go before the launch of Crew 8, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson led a press briefing on Wednesday morning February 28, 2024, at Kennedy Space Center. The 8th Commercial Crew trip to the International Space Station (ISS) remains on schedule for a launch just after midnight (12:04 am EST) early Friday morning March 1.
The only significant issue appears to be the weather in the crew abort areas. NASA’s Commercial Crew program manager Steve Stitch reported that several weather fronts are moving in that may have an adverse impact; he called the weather marginal at this point. The issue will be revisited later this evening, at which time a final decision will be made regarding the launch status for Friday morning. The Crew 8 astronauts are scheduled to stay on the ISS until August.
via: NASA Livestream
Nelson went on to summarize this and other recent NASA missions. He reviewed a few of the most noteworthy science experiments of the 200 on aboard Crew-8, especially those aimed at benefiting treatment of osteoporosis and brain diseases. Said Nelson, “The use of microgravity is coming into its own.” He also touched on the upcoming private astronaut launch, the recent PACE mission, and the remarkable 72 flights of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars which “acted as a scout for the Rover.”
Though Nelson noted that Intuitive Machines team would be reporting on the latest status of the IM-1 Odysseus mission to the lunar South Pole at 2 pm later that day, he explained and reiterated that as far as NASA was concerned the mission was a success. Useful data was being collected from all 6 of the NASA instruments and the NASA LIDAR was responsible for being a backup that led to the eventual spacecraft landing.
NASA’s Jim Free recounted the status of several upcoming missions, including Artemis 2 (the core will be delivered to KSC this summer), Artemis 3 (welding underway and spacesuit development proceeding), Starliner crewed flight to ISS (April), and the upcoming graduation of the next class of NASA astronauts.
Nelson explained how NASA and the American taxpayer benefit by leveraging participation of commercial and international partners … sharing the cost of missions that in the past would have been shouldered only by NASA.
During the press briefing, Nelson was also asked about newspaper reports that Russia might launch nuclear weapons into space, Nelson expressed concern for the safety of NASA satellites and especially for the crews of the ISS and other spacecraft. When pressed about related discussions with the Russians, Nelson curtly said, “I would refer you to the White House and (National Security Advisor) Admiral Kirby.”
In answer to another question that the public may view space launches as rather routine, Nelson recalled the famous 1961 speech by President John F. Kennedy (“We choose to go to the Moon not because it its easy but because it is hard.”). Just to emphasize just how risky it is, he went on to cite the annual NASA Day of Remembrance (January 25) that honors members of the NASA family (17 in all) who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. Said Nelson, “To the uneducated eye it might seem to be routine.”
Montalbano answered a question about crew time with family, explaining that certain family members are quarantined with the respective crew member, while others have have time in a more restricted way. As is the typical practice, family members will say goodbye to the crew as they leave the crew quarters, as well as when they drive away in a vehicle to the launch pad for their 6-month journey.
