by The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a new private lunar lander for the company Intuitive Machines and NASA this week, and you can watch it live online in a series of free webcasts.
Intuitive Machines’ first Nova-C lander mission, called IM-1, will launch to the moon on a Falcon 9 rocket February 14 with payloads for NASA and other customers. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:57 am EST (0557 GMT) from NASA’s Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If all goes well, IM-1 will land on the moon on February 22, NASA and Intuitive Machines said.
SpaceX, Intuitive Machines and NASA will provide live streams of the launch, and NASA will also host two pre-flight press conferences that you can listen to before liftoff. Read on for a summary of when and how to watch SpaceX’s IM-1 launch for Intuitive Machines live online.
Monday, February 12: Prelaunch science teleconference
On Monday, February 12, NASA will hold an audio teleconference to review the science experiments on the IM-1 Intuitive Machines mission. It will start at 11 am EST (1600 GMT) and will be streamed live on NASA TV. You can ask questions on social media using the #AskNASA tag.
IM-1 is part of NASA’s Commercial Loon Payload Services program, and is conducting NASA experiments “focused on plumbing interactions, space-weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for autonomous in the future. navigation technologies,” NASA wrote in a description.
Below is a look at who will be speaking during the press conference.
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Susan Lederer, CLPS project scientist, NASA’s Johnson Space Center;
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Farzin Amzajerdian, principal investigator, Navigation Doppler Lidar, NASA Langley Research Center;
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Tamara Statham, co-principal investigator, Lunar Node-1, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center;
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Daniel Cremons, deputy principal investigator, Laser Retro-Reflector Array, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center;
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Nat Gopalswamy, principal investigator, Radio Observations of the Lunar Surface Photoelectron Sheath, NASA Goddard;
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Michelle Munk, principal investigator, Plumber Stereo Camera for Lunar Surface Studies, NASA Langley;
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Lauren Ameen, deputy project manager, Radio Frequency Mass Spectrometer, NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
Tuesday, February 13: lunar preparedness teleconference
On Tuesday, February 13, NASA, SpaceX and Intuitive Machines will hold a pre-launch press teleconference to review launch readiness for the IM-1 lunar lander and its Falcon 9 rocket.
The press conference will begin at 1:30 pm EST (1830 GMT) and will be streamed live on NASA TV, but it’s an audio-only briefing so don’t expect video.
Below is who to expect to hear from during the briefing.
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Joel Kearns, associate deputy administrator for Exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters;
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Debra Needham, program scientist, Office of Strategic Exploration and Integration, NASA Headquarters;
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Trent Martin, vice president, Space Systems, Intuitive Machines;
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William Gerstenmaier, Vice President, Construction and Flight Reliability, SpaceX;
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Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, Space Force Station Cape Canaveral’s 45th Weather Squadron.
Wednesday, February 14: SpaceX IM-1 launch
NASA expects a Valentine’s Day launch for the Intuitive Machine’s IM-1 mission, with liftoff scheduled for 12:57 am EST (0557 GMT).
NASA’s live stream of the IM-1 launch will begin shortly before liftoff at 12:15 am EST (0515 GMT) and will be broadcast on NASA TV, NASA+ and the agency’s other social media sites.
SpaceX will host its own live stream of the launch on the SpaceX X account (formerly Twitter).
Intuitive Machines will also host the launch live stream on its IM-1 mission site
You will be able to watch the IM-1 launch live on Space.com on our home page, at the top of this page and probably on our YouTube channel. However, the exact time of the SpaceX IM-1 launch will depend on the weather, the launch vehicle and other conditions.
“Coverage is subject to change based on real-time operational activities,” NASA warned in a statement. The agency will provide updates on the mission through its Artemis NASA blog.
If you can’t watch the SpaceX IM-1 launch in person, NASA is offering a “Virtual Guest” option to follow it remotely. You can sign up to be a virtual guest for the launch, receive mission and data updates and more through the agency’s Virtual Guest Program website. Registration for the IM-1 mission is ongoing at its mission site.
