NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 & Rocket are "GO" for Launch | Kennedy Space Center

NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 & Rocket are "GO" for Launch | Kennedy Space Center

NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Crew-11 Commander, and Mike Fincke, Crew-11 Pilot, pose for a photo with the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew-11 Dragon spacecraft at Launch Pad 39A in Florida

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Crew-11 Pilot, poses for a photo at Launch Pad 39A in Florida

Crew-11 Mission Specialist and astronaut Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) at Launch Pad 39A in Florida

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew-11 Dragon spacecraft at Launch Pad 39A in Florida

Crew-11 Emblem

NASA and SpaceX teams completed the final major review—the Launch Readiness Review—for the agency’s Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station with mission leaders polling “go” to proceed into the launch count. The four crew members of Crew-11 are scheduled to liftoff no earlier than 12:09 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 31, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Commander Zena Cardman and Pilot Mike Fincke, both NASA astronauts, and Mission Specialists Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos (Russia) will ride inside the Dragon spacecraft atop Falcon 9 for an automated, day-and-a-half long trip to the orbital outpost’s space-facing port on the Harmony module. Once there, the four Crew-11 members will join Expedition 73 beginning a seven-month research mission in low Earth orbit.

Meanwhile, the seven-member Expedition 73 crew is gearing up to welcome four new crewmates at the end of the week. Shortly after that, another quartet that has been living and working aboard the International Space Station since March will return to Earth.

Following the new crew’s arrival, four Expedition 73 crew members representing NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission will begin handing over their science and maintenance responsibilities in preparation for their departure about a week later.

Image Credits: SpaceX, NASA, Kimiya Yui/JAXA
Dates: July 29-30, 2025

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