LIVE: SpaceX launches Axiom-2, carrying four astronauts to the ISS

day, about eight minutes into the Mission, I should say it actually happens about a minute before the second engine shuts down, yes, you're right Kate, so when the first stage is back on Earth, the second stage will shut down its only Merlin engine that ignited correctly. After stage separation, once this has happened, we wait for that important confirmation of a good orbital insertion, then Dragon will begin its preparations and separate from the second stage about three minutes after the section stage enters orbit. We should get that great view from the Ford. The camera shows Dragon with his crew of

four

moving away from the second stage.

Once Dragon is within striking distance, it will begin checking Draco's maneuvering thrusters to ensure Dragon continues to increase separation distance from the second stage. The nose cone unfolds. The sequence will start just before t plus 12 minutes and end around t plus 15 minutes, exposing the dragon's docking mechanism in advance. Okay, that call tells us that the rp1 upload is now complete in stage one, now ahead or excuse me. I think we actually heard stage two there, now that the talking mechanism exhibit will be ahead of a rival from the International Space Station. Now with that, let's go to Leah at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for another update on how things are going there with the station. preparation hi Leah hi Kate the space station team here in Houston is focused on the critical systems of the station and everything continues to function as expected before launch, so the teams have verified the command path to the ground through of our communication satellite constellation for the station everything is nominal we love that word and the station will be ready to receive Dragon tomorrow if they launch tonight Mission Control Houston will launch once the crew arrives at the station the crew of the Expedition 69 will be there to welcome the ax2 crew on board Currently living on the station we have seven people including NASA

astronauts

Frank Rubio Woody Hoberg and Steve Bowen United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alnayari and Rose Cosmos cosmonauts Andre Fedaya Sergey Prokopiev and Dimitri Patellen Flight director Greg Whitney is at the console and now leading the flight controllers on the Orbit 3 team in Houston for the launch and flight director Marcus Flores will lead equipment for docking tomorrow, a reminder that today's launch will take approximately 16 hours to reach the station with a docking to the Zenith Node 2 or space-oriented port scheduled just before.

Tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. ET Once Dragon is fully docked in the state, here in Houston, it will assist Axiom space and space station

astronauts

with leak checks as they work to open the hatches on both Dragon and inside the station's pressurized muster adapter. We wait for the hatch to open. will take place approximately two hours after docking, that's it for us here at Mission Control Houston and I'll send it back to the team at Hawthorne Duke, thanks Leah and that's all scheduled to begin in just over 18 minutes from now and I have to Let's just say the energy around here is certainly picking up, as Leah just mentioned, once the crew

launches

, they'll spend the next 16 hours on Dragon catching up with the International Space Station.

That time in orbit and on Dragon will include a variety of tasks including some planned photography, but about half of that time is scheduled for sleep, which the crew will absolutely need because once they get to the ISS they have a pretty extensive schedule. ahead: They will spend eight days on the station conducting a variety of scientific research and technology demonstrations, including research studies on radiation protection. on how to create rain and how to improve our understanding of dangerous thunderstorms, as well as DNA research with nanomaterials and reprogramming skin cells to help create regenerative medicines. Wow, when they are not hands-on with research, they will participate in numerous outreach events connecting with groups around the world, John, for example, will use the station's ham radio to share a message with students beyond everything they Commander Peggy Whitson has assured us that each of them will set aside some time to simply pause and look down at the planet below as they accelerate.

It went a cool 17,500 miles per hour on station right on the dome the entire time. Yes, exactly now, as we said before, we have an instant launch window, which means we have a second that we aim for. uh 5 37 p. Eastern time. 2:37 p.m. Pacific time, so in just 16 and a half minutes the loading of two locks has begun, that call is telling us that the liquid oxygen in stage two is already beginning or that the liquid oxygen is beginning to load in the stage two, that will be. conclude around T minus two minutes now I was talking about the instantaneous launch window because essentially we're chasing the space station that we're trying to reach, it means that for everything to be precisely aligned in terms of how much propellant we're

carrying

on board and obviously We don't want to take on too much because everything about space is weight, how much weight are you taking on?

So we want to optimize our path to the International Space Station and, yes, basically have that instant moment to lift off, okay and that moment will come soon and as we approach the final moments of our countdown to launch Axiom space, the CEO Mike suffradini wanted to take a moment to reflect on this, Axiom's second space mission, but this mission today. It is very significant for Axiom Space. It's a defining moment because it's our chance to really start bringing the rest of the world to the International Space Station. We are honored to have the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fly with us here today.

The two crew members who fly. fantastic they have done a great job in training of course John Schoffner has been with us for a while he is a backup on ax1 we are excited to have him flying of course commanders Peggy Whitson and although she is the first female commander on a trade mission. That's a big problem for us. I really don't think it's a big deal for Peggy, she's flown so many times. This is, you know, like riding a bike, but we are very excited about this team and look forward to their mission. So you know, we don't do this alone.

Axiom is a wonderful company with fantastic employees. They have worked quite a bit to get to this point. The commander is also one of our own, but our thanks go out to the entire team that supports us, the dismissal has done a fantastic job in preparing for the mission and the medical work and all the work that has been done to prepare the crews to fly. SpaceX, which is a fantastic and reliable Dragon spacecraft, and the Falcon launch vehicle have prepared the The crew and the vehicle are on the launch pad ready to go and of course we at NASA can't do any of this without the NASA, who has worked with us along the way, allowed us to have this opportunity and will work with us. in orbit and of course the investors, the reason we can do what we are doing is a company and build this space station and do these missions because the investors that are with us along the way are the entire team that has us supported. and worked with us these last few months as we prepare for this Mission and we are faithful, very good guys, you will have a great time in orbit.

We hope to see you there in orbit, on behalf of everyone. we here at Axiom wish you good luck on Godspeed just under 13 and a half minutes and everything is still looking good for the falcons launch now Falcon 9 starts for lunch today we have continued with weather assessments and just so you know we are monitoring a The anvil cloud moving toward LC 39a is currently five miles away and just needs to stay outside three miles for lunch to continue. The weather officer will continue to monitor this cloud and continue to provide updates to launch teams on how to verify copies. copies without problems in the vehicle looking at the cloud thinking very dry smooth good read and just a reminder that the city Falcon 9 valves the Falcon team will perform that manual evaluation of the manifold pressure until T minus 35 seconds and if we do Yes If we do not pass those checks, the Falcon device will go on hold if the evaluation passes, no call will be made and we will continue counting down, so again at T minus 35 seconds after the manual evaluation, if we do not pass those checks, the Falcon team call on hold, but if there is no call, we have passed the checks and will continue to count down, okay, I think Kathy's manual assessment we are passing the check, wait for no call, if it looks good.

I like that comment thinking dry thoughts now. We are talking about propellant charge. The rp1 fuel is fully charged in the second stage. Field loading continues in the first stage. We are almost full. It will end at the T minus six minute mark. The loading of densified liquid oxygen continues in the first stage. the second stage, both stages are underway. the first stage is about to end, but will not end until T minus three minutes. The second stage just started a few minutes ago and will end at T minus two minutes as we get closer to launch. we will do several checks, one is the thrust vector controllers, these are the ones that move the engine nozzles in the first and second stage of the engine and when we move those nozzles we call it TVC Wiggles, that will be done in 10 minutes and we will also do checks of the throttle valves on the engine now the range is currently air and space c are clear the weather uh did you hear the report from the core to the crew we're watching An anvil cloud is within five miles but I just have to stay further away more than three miles away and we will go flying and in the meantime the dragon team also reported that they are working without problems everything is complete during the countdown the trim checks are finished the access arm is retracted the launch The escape system is armed the crew are buckled up and ready to go, we approach the final crew instructions, we will hear them in T minus 10 minutes, they will configure their screens for launch, receive the last messages and then we will enter the terminal countdown sequence let's hear the Dragon SpaceX countdown network and from the crew screens are set for launch and SpaceX nausea we can confirm that the crew screens are set for launch Copies from SpaceX and on behalf of the entire SpaceX team we have the honor to have you aboard the Dragon Freedom capsule today on your next trip to the International Space Station and the second creation of Axiom, we wish you a great mission, good luck, good luck and enjoy the journey, that is freedom, you are the crew calling the ground to let Freedom fly, we see them applauding everything.

If we continue to look good, we're nine minutes away from kickoff. The next important event will be the cooling of the engine at T minus seven minutes, as John just said, at T minus seven minutes we will start to flow some of the super cold liquid. oxygen through the turbo pumps, which basically cools the hardware by performing an engine cooldown before full flow. We do this to help minimize the chances of the hardware experiencing any thermal shock when that full flow of super-cooled liquid oxygen occurs. I can see some ventilation of the vehicle is now totally normal, it is that the liquid oxygen vaporizes when it comes into contact with the ambient air and cannot be used.

Maybe this is an opportunity. You know, we always use the word abort. This could be an opportunity to allow. Everyone knows that there are in-flight abort warnings that we are going to hear, they are just warnings to the crew that say that if a contingency occurs, there will be different actions that will happen at each stage of the flight when you are in the first stage or when you are in the second stage , that's right, we should hear Commander Peggy Whitson call those abort modes as they ascend and actually reach orbit, she's tracking everything on her tablet as well as on her leg and also. the crew is displayed above her head so she can identify which mode they are entering and those modes basically identify where and what sequence Dragon would take at that moment during the flight, now we areabout 10 seconds of that engine cooling. for the first stage, the engine cooling started very on time, we have opened the valves that allow the liquid oxygen and kerosene to reach the Merlin 1D engines in the first stage, our next major activity will take place at T minus six minutes approximately .

We will hear the announcement that field loading is complete on the first stage and another comment while listening to the crew briefing. At minute T-minus 10, we also hear reference to a call that may or may not be made at T minus 35 seconds. Many of the Falcon 9 checks are done by computer at the last minute. Today there is one that requires a peripheral look at some data if, for example, that system had a problem that would be called at T minus 35 seconds. 35 seconds right now everything still looks good on Falcon 9. I wish we also heard in the briefing that they are tracking an anvil cloud that at the time of the briefing was about five miles from the pad. you just need to stay outside the three miles to keep things looking good on that front.

The next call we will hear in about 30 seconds is that the dragon has transitioned to the terminal countdown setting, which is basically an indication that the dragon spaceship has taken over space, the spaceship counts down and at that time it will be on internal power at this time rp1 is now fully charged in both the first and second stages, the blocking charge continues in both stages and will end at T minus three. minutes for the first stage and T minus two minutes for the second stage our pressurization for a record strong pressurization notice we are putting pressurized helium gas on the stage in preparation for opening Raise the arm of the clamp that is around the top of the second stage, which will happen approximately at minute T minus

four

.

Mark the clamp arm will open and approximately 10 seconds later the strong back of the structure next to the Falcon 9 will recline approximately two degrees away we have heard the call The strong back is retracting which starts the sequence now in the ground computer to open your arms and lean that strong back about two degrees away on takeoff. The hydraulic system will then pull the strong back to a position of approximately 45 degrees. away from the rocket as it flies away from the launch. The mountain sees its arms now opening around the second stage. Now we should be able to see that strong backward trajectory just a couple of degrees from the launch vehicle during liftoff, it will move backwards even further.

To clear the way for Falcon 9. It looks like we may start to see that movement. This structure is now used to horizontally integrate the vehicles while they are still in the hangar, as well as to transport them horizontally to the launch pad and then lift them. to its vertical launching position and we have a strong back. Now you see a little bounce there when it stops. The flotation of the stage one lock is complete and just as the loading of the stage one locks is complete, we only have to load liquid oxygen. In the second stage that will conclude just after T minus two minutes, at which time we will have the million-pound propellant aboard the Falcon 9 Ready To Fly, we can see that the vehicle continues to vent some of that gaseous or liquid oxygen that has.

Now vaporized Franken is in the terminal count and has internal energy. We have a

live

view there of the SpaceX team here at headquarters in mission control on the left side, as well as the Axiom team from their own mission control also on the right side. SpaceX for weather it looks like the system has cleared and it looks like we are going to launch for weather. We have heard good news, we are letting you know that it looks like the weather will bypass the area which is actually great news, I am just waiting for the liquid oxygen loading on the second stage to be completed.

Loading of two locks is complete. The dragon is an automatic idle. Brown gas. Settlements expect strong ventilation in the ventilation. Now we are purging excess pressure on the strong back. What's that big white plume producing as cold gas meets warm Florida air and condenses rising moisture in a minute the flight computers will take over the sequence? Let's listen to the launch of the Falcon 9 with Dragon and the Axiom 2 crew. FTS is armed Falcon 9 is booting up and now controlling it's counting down Dragon SpaceX go to lunch tagging copies go Vermont T-minus 30 seconds T minus 15. T minus 10. nine eight seven six five four three two one engines at full power together we expand what is possible in low Earth orbit add Astra and Godspeed ax2 more 30 seconds in this historical p more 36 seconds 36 seconds in flight a great view of the Falcon 9 heading into space power Nominal telemetry we are in the accelerator hub is the first stage is Throttle down on the Merlin engines in preparation for the speed of sound Max Q while we get great views from the first stage camera looking back at the complex Kennedy Space Center 39a, stage one, accelerate Max Q, we're out of the accelerator hub. a Bravo copies a Bravo we are at full power and that call to a Brahma that is another those abortion modes as we increase and faster the logic of the drug ensures that the contingency occurs changes from stage to stage the cooling announcement says that we are getting the turbo pump on the second stage engine cooled in preparation for its light to come on just a minute from now again.

Great views looking back and you can see the contrail as we exit 39a in the uh, shadow of the contrail against the cloud cover. Around Florida we are now seeing three big sequences and a

live

view of the crew inside the Dragon, they are preparing, we are going to have three events here, the main engine will shut down and then we will start the second stage engine. I heard the throttle down in preparation for stage separation. Separation of states confirmed, copy of two outputs and subsequent ignition of stage one, which is again in startup. Well, separation of stages.

We have turned on the second stage engine. The first stage is in the boost recoil ignition, working its way back. Views of Cape Canaveral on the left side, the first stage engines running as we return to the launch site or landing site. The second stage engine nozzle is visible on the right side, we are boosting the Axiom 2 crew into low Earth orbit en route to the International Space Station waiting for the call that the recoil boost is complete stage one return boost off just in time first stage completed first of three burns returning to landing site second stage remains powered and on trajectory acquisition signal Bermuda we are heading northeast, Bermuda ground station SpaceX nominal trajectory Bermuda is listening to the nominal trajectory of the vehicle and the crew here is the call to leave a nominal trajectory, so four minutes into the flight everything is still going well in the first stage returning and there is the crew in the second stage to put the trip in orbit to the approaching space station we are waiting for the next trajectory call from the guidance officer Dragon SpaceX nominal trajectory ah I love hearing those words a nominal trajectory for the Dragons nominal trajectory and maybe even a little bit of excitement in the crew voice, Commander Peggy Whitson calling again upon hearing the CNG call of a nominal trajectory.

On the left side of the screen, you can see the first stage, it is now beginning to orient itself so that the engines are pointed towards land as we descend towards Landing Zone One at Cape Canaveral. The four titanium grid fins have been deployed and will help guide. They will guide the first stage through once we enter the atmosphere after the entry burn which will come here in A couple more minutes on the right, the second stage with the Dragon capsule on top heading towards the east coast of The US We just heard the call from Boston, the New Hampshire tracking station has picked up the Dragon SpaceX trajectory signal.

The nominal CNG keeps making those calls that we want to hear everything and the crew echoes them. The good thing comes with the crew. We've been able to bring in some live video footage from inside the capsule as they head into space and there's another view of the start recording of the team's stage one input and there we hear the start recording for that reinforcement of the stage one, you can see it there on the left side of the screen, the page one entry recording shutdown has now begun at the conclusion of that burned entry. that burn helps slow the vehicle as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere on the first day it sees the first stage High drag that sweeps about 70 percent of the speed in time nominal trajectory I love hearing it scream everything criminal trajectory beautiful view of Planet Earth coming towards us from the second stage views on the right side, left side, our first view of the space coast, once again, this booster is attempting to land on lz1 stage one.

Trend Sonic, a thruster now travels near the speed of sound in real life. Viewed from one of our tracking cameras, we can see the grille fins acting to help direct the thruster downward on the stage. An Atlantic Bird, two FTS has saved awaiting Page One, Landing Lake deployment, Ed you can see the first stage has landed back on lz1 this is the first time we have performed a ground landing on a crew mission. Next up will be the second engine cut for Seco and that's where after the engine shuts down, the second stage will coast for a few minutes until the dragon is told. to separate stage two is in the terminal guidance, we expect Seco to occur in about 20 seconds.

Copy of Shannon. Shannon's commander, Peggy Woodson, continues to announce the abortion. Moats Pico, all good, on time, shutting down that second engine and also confirming that the launch exhaust system is on. now disarmed the Dragon SpaceX nominal orbit insertion, okay and there's that call, we can confirm a good orbital insertion Kathy nominal insertion Dragon SpaceX launch Disarmed escape system we can see the crew playing with their harnesses now that they are in 0g, which I think we just got a view of our congested zero gravity clearly the crew is having fun right after takeoff. I think we heard a laugh coming from Commander Peggy Whitson, who is a NASA legend and one of the most decorated astronauts of all time.

It's amazing to hear that. a space veteran, as she is fine, she is still having fun at takeoff. The next event we have around t plus 12 minutes is Dragon Separation, which is where the dragon spacecraft and the trunk, known collectively as the dragon spacecraft, will separate from the second stage. After that separation, we will begin deploying the nose cone that exposes the forward bulkhead thrusters as well as the forward hatch. That front hatch is what the capsule uses to dock autonomously with the International Space Station, going from left to right, everyone is having fun, we clearly have it.

Mission specialist Rihanna Barnawi on her right is pilot John Schoffner, then we have commander Peggy Whitson and on the far right mission specialist Ali al-karni we can see that the excess strap on some of the harnesses, as well as the writing utensil for their tablets that they continue to play with while experiencing zero gravity for the first time, we can at least say that for three of the four astronauts on board today we are awaiting a separation from the dragon that is expected to occur in the next few seconds in live on your screen that funky Dragon capsule that is really cool See a very good dish uh good trip Team Falcon 9 hope you enjoyed the trip to space have a great trip in Dragon welcome home to zero g Peggy who was the chief engineer by SpaceX Bill Gerson Here it is, it was a phenomenal trip.

Be sure to share the joy of zero gravity with your crew. We will do it. You can now see the Dragon's Draco thrusters activating the service and activation section of the Dragon SpaceX nominal dehumidifier. Draco checks the nosco deployment is in progress. The hooks are opening. Dragon copies very well, there is good news to let us know that the hooks are two sets of hooks that are now disengaging and once that is complete we can deploy, open the nose cone, we should see the nose cone deploy In about a minute, it's a great view on the right side of the screen from the secondstage of the Falcon 9 looking at the Dragon Freedom capsule, of course, the crew on the left side playfully, acclimating to their new zero gravity environment, can see the zero. g indicator in the background and I love this view this view is over the shoulders of Commander Peggy Whitson who here is on the left side or in the left seat and pilot John Trafner is in the right seat here looking at what they are looking.

These are the crew display panels that they use in flight to track which thrusters they are firing and what phase of the mission they are in, as you can see where they are around the world, as we can see the crew acclimating to nose. The tapered hooks are in the process of disengaging so they are starting to open and once they are complete we can open the nose cone and expose the front hatch. Is incredible. Well, today's launch is certainly one more for the history books. And yet, the story is just beginning Leah with the crew officially on their way to the International Space Station, how are things tracking down their emissions control at the Johnson Space Center?

Hey, Duke, well, the chase has officially begun with the dragon, uh, heading towards the International Space Station, so with the successful launch of the Axia 2 mission at 37 p.m. ET, teams here at Nasus Johnson Space Center will monitor the Dragon's flight to the International Space Station for the next 16 hours. Our role in this journey really begins in a period called integrated operations. This is where Dragon is much closer to the station and at this point NASA's SpaceX and Axiom space teams are all in at the same time to get the crew to dock safely. Crews here are preparing for a docking of ax2 to the station around 9:30 a.m.

Eastern time. Tomorrow we will begin joint coverage of that phase at 7:30 a.m. ET, but for now that will be all for us at Mission Control Houston tonight and I will be back with you tomorrow to reconnect with you, Kate and Duke, yes, for the next 16 hours, Dragon will be executing a series of burns to gradually raise and align the ax2 crew to dock with the International Space Station and what we call the activation and rendezvous phase of the mission now in just a few minutes the crew will have the opportunity to change into their spacesuits and Get a little more comfortable for the flight and enjoy your first meal aboard the spacecraft.

I'm sure it will be a lot of fun the first time for three. of them eating in microgravity at 2 p.m. Pacific Time, you will prepare for a rest period that will last approximately 10 hours, 8 hours for actual sleep and a couple of hours for pre- and post-sleep activities and then before arriving at the station we will have two potential opportunities to chat briefly with the crew in orbit, one later this morning around 11 10am. m. Pacific and another early morning around 10 12 10 a.m. m. Pacific, while we are hopeful that one of these will work out, none of the opportunities are guaranteed as they depend on both crew schedule and ground station coverage, but if we can provide support we will make an announcement on our channels. social networks no later than 15 minutes before the event start time, but in the meantime be sure to keep an eye on the mission at

axiom

space.com and you can also track the flight of the dragon on

spacex

.com

launches

and even if We cannot speak live with the crew, we will continue to provide updates on the mission through our social media channels and from 7:30 a.m.

ET, 4 a.m. Pacific Time on Monday, May 22, we will continue our joint live coverage of the ax2 cruise approach and docking with NASA. Keep an eye on Axiom and SpaceX's social channels for updates, as there will be plenty of amazing moments. to share with you over the next 10 days and so from all of us at Axiom space thank you SpaceX thank you NASA this is just the beginning and thank you for tuning in we hope to see you abroad soon