WASHINGTON — As Axiom Space gears up for its third private astronaut mission to the International Space Station in less than a month, SpaceX is still determining what launch pad it will use for it.
At a Dec. 13 online briefing, Axiom Space, NASA and SpaceX said they were preparing for a Jan. 9 launch of the Ax-3 mission, using a Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9. Liftoff is scheduled for 8:18 p.m. Eastern that day, with a docking with the ISS at about 5:15 a.m. Eastern Jan. 11.
The launch will use the same Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 booster as the Ax-2 mission in May, said Sarah Walker, director of Dragon mission management at SpaceX. “Both vehicles are on track with margin to support the Ax-3 launch in early January,” she said.
Missing from the announcement, though, was where the launch would take place. All previous Crew Dragon missions have used Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, but SpaceX has been building a tower at nearby Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to support cargo and crew launches. There had been reports in November that SpaceX would use SLC-40 for the Ax-3 mission to avoid a scheduling conflict with another launch at LC-39A.
Walker said that a decision on which pad to use for Ax-3 is still pending. “We are nearing completion with preparations of SLC-40 to support Dragon missions, if needed,” she said. That includes completion of the interior of the crew access arm and “final external approvals” from regulatory agencies.
A launch from LC-39A, though, on the current schedule would clash with another Falcon 9 scheduled to launch from that pad as soon as Jan. 12 carrying the Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lunar lander. That mission must launch from LC-39A since only that pad is equipped to fuel the lander shortly before launch. Intuitive Machines confirmed a Jan. 12 launch date in a Dec. 4 statement announcing the arrival of the lander at Cape Canaveral for…
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