SpaceX Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon stands vertical on Sunday June 8 after going vertical overnight ahead of Tuesday morning launch of Axiom-4 commercial astronaut mission planned to liftoff at 822 AM ET pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer / SpaceUpClose.com
PLAYALINDA BEACH/CANAVERAL NATIONAL SEASHORE, FL – A SpaceX Falcon 9 went vertical overnight Saturday night June 7 ahead of Tuesday morning launch of Axiom-4 commercial astronaut mission planned to liftoff at 822 AM ET pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, FL.
See my photos of the integrated Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon – as seen from Playalinda Beach, Canaveral National Seashore, FL this hazy Sunday afternoon June 8.
SpaceX Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon stands vertical on Sunday June 8 after going vertical overnight ahead of Tuesday morning launch of Axiom-4 commercial astronaut mission planned to liftoff at 822 AM ET pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer / SpaceUpClose.com
The AX-4 mission comes just days after the Trump Musk feud broke out publicly and viciously and Musk threatened to immediately decommission the Crew Dragon. He later relented
SpaceX completed a Static fire test of the first stage engines around 130 PM Sunday.
“Teams reviewing static fire test data & keeping an eye on weather in the ascent corridor.”
SpaceX Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon stands vertical on Sunday June 8 after going vertical overnight ahead of Tuesday morning launch of Axiom-4 commercial astronaut mission planned to liftoff at 822 AM ET pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer / SpaceUpClose.com
This 4th commercial mission by Axiom Space is led by retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson – on her 5th spaceflight. 3 other rookies crewmates round out the crew of 4 from India, Hungary and Poland.
Retired NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame on May 30, 2025. She will command Ax-4 mission to ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer / SpaceUpClose.com
Peggy is currently Americas most experienced astronaut with 675 days in space! 1 week ago she was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
Retired NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame on May 30, 2025. She will command Ax-4 mission to ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer / SpaceUpClose.com
Photos Credit: Ken Kremer / Spaceupclose.com
SpaceX Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon stands vertical on Sunday June 8 after going vertical overnight ahead of Tuesday morning launch of Axiom-4 commercial astronaut mission planned to liftoff at 822 AM ET pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer / SpaceUpClose.com
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news. Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics. Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events.
TITUSVILLE, FL – Watch my complete live interview on Fox 35 Orlando on May 28, 2025 about SpaceX Starship explosion on Test Flight 9 – which launched on May 27 at 737 PM ET from Star Base, Texas. Flight 9 is the 3rd SpaceX Starship rocket launch in a row that ended in catastrophic destruction and failure of both stages.
CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, FL – The most powerful version of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket thundered aloft from Florida’s Space Coast on Monday evening April 28 and successfully delivered the 1st batch of Amazons Kuiper constellation commercial comsats to orbit – setting up a direct head-to-head competition with the already well-established SpaceX Starlink satellite system.
