Major Year of Launches, Crewed Space Flights from Florida’s Space Coast

COCOA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Each year, the number of launches from the Space Coast continues to increase, with a record-breaking 72 launches in 2023. That pace will continue this year, including plans for an impressive six crewed launches. Although the launch of Artemis II has been moved from November 2024 to September 2025, there are still plenty of landmark launches set for 2024:

January 17 — Axiom Space began private, commercially crewed space flights in 2022, and this month will make their third mission to the International Space Station. Axiom-3 features an all-European crew with chief astronaut Michael López-Alegría of Spain, who has flown on the space shuttle Columbia and a Soyuz craft. The paying customers include Mission Pilot Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei, and Mission Specialists ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt of Sweden and Alper Gezeravcı, Turkey’s first astronaut. Ax-3 is targeting a 14-day mission aboard the ISS and will be using the Crew Dragon Freedom capsule aboard a Space X Falcon 9.

No Earlier Than (NET) February 2024 — NASA’s Commercial Crew Program will launch the SpaceX Crew-8 mission from Kennedy Space Center to the ISS aboard Crew Dragon Endeavour. The crew of the planned 180-day mission includes NASA astronauts Commander Matthew Dominick, Pilot Michael Barratt, Mission Specialist Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Alexander Grebenkin.

NET mid-April 2024 — Boeing CST-100 Starliner’s first Crewed Flight Test is set to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will head to the ISS for an eight-day mission before returning to Earth via parachute- and airbag-assisted ground landing, demonstrating Starliner’s ability to achieve NASA certification and safely fly regular crewed missions to space. The crew for the Starliner-1, positioned to launch in 2025, have been chosen.

TBD, Summer 2024 — The Polaris Dawn program, backed by billionaire Jared Isaacman, will fly its first of up to three missions with only private citizens on board. This five-day mission plans to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown by a crewed spacecraft (breaking Gemini XI’s record) and will attempt the first commercial extravehicular activity with SpaceX-designed EVA spacesuits, in addition to 38 experiments on the human effects of spaceflight and space radiation. This will be Isaacman’s second flight after 2022’s Inspiration4, and he will be the mission’s commander. He will be joined aboard Crew Dragon Resilience by civilians and first-timers Scott Poteet (mission pilot), Sarah Gillis (payload specialist), and Anna Menon (medical officer).

NET mid-August 2024 — NASA and SpaceX’s Crew-9 has not yet been chosen but is expected to launch to the ISS this year.

NET mid-October 2024 — Axiom-4 is targeting a 14-day stay at the ISS, but no crew has been announced. NASA requires these missions to be commanded by former NASA astronauts with experience on the space station.

Head to VisitSpaceCoast.com to begin planning your out-of-this-world vacation at the only beach that doubles as a launch pad.

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SOURCE Florida’s Space Coast Office of Tourism