Blastoff! 🚀 NASA and SpaceX have successfully launched the Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Riding on a Falcon 9 rocket, the astronauts lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, marking another milestone in NASA & SpaceX’s human spaceflight program.
The mission was even more historic as the Falcon 9 booster landed safely back in Florida, showcasing SpaceX’s unmatched reusable rocket technology. Crew-11 will carry astronauts to the ISS for research, exploration, and the future of deep space missions.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Crew-11 mission for NASA from Launch Complex-39 at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Aug. 1, 2025 at 11:43 a.m. EDT.
Crew-11 is NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, together with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov
Blastoff! NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 launches to space station, booster lands in Florida
Watch this incredible moment as NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 launches to space and makes history again! 🌍✨
00:00FTS is armed. Falcon 9 is in startup and is now controlling.
00:06Dragon is in countdown.
00:09Flight computer is switching to countdown mode now.
00:13Dragon, SpaceX, go for launch.
00:18SpaceX, Dragon, go for launch.
00:3030 seconds.
00:4515 seconds.
00:50T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
01:00Ignition. Ignition to full power and lift off.
01:03Go Falcon, go NASA, go through 11.
01:08Together we rise as NASA's SpaceX crew 11 heads up to the International Space Station.
01:131.7 million pounds of thrust.
01:17Stage 1 propulsion is nominal.
01:19Propelling Falcon 9 as the vehicle pitching down range and making its way up the East Coast
01:25and will soon join Expedition 73 aboard the orbiting laboratory.
01:29So far getting good call outs on that first stage performance.
01:37We are now T plus 35 seconds into the crew 11 mission onboard Dragon and Falcon 9.
01:44Falcon, the Falcon 9 engines.
01:46Stage 1 throttle down.
01:47Are throttling down to help.
01:48Power and telemetry are nominal.
01:50To help pass through the period of max Q or maximum aerodynamic pressure on the vehicle during ascent.
01:56Max Q.
02:00We just had max Q right there.
02:02Falcon 9 is supersonic.
02:061 minute 9 seconds into what is a little bit less than a 9 minute flight uphill as Dragon continuing.
02:19Stage 1 Bravo.
02:21Copy. 1 Bravo.
02:24That 1 Bravo again, that's the abort zone.
02:27That last abort zone for stage 1 if necessary.
02:30The crew already pulling over 2 Gs.
02:33Next we're going to have a couple of events happen in rapid succession.
02:36We'll be getting ready for the second stage to warm up and have the second stage MVAC chill.
02:41And then we'll also have MECA or main engine cutoff where the 9 engines on the first stage will cut off ahead of the first and second stages.
02:48We'll then be separating from one another.
02:50And then the single Merlin vacuum engine on the second stage will ignite and continue to carry crew 11 to orbit while the first stage begins its journey back to Earth.
02:58As we're now a minute and 56 seconds into today's flight.
03:01The 9 Merlin engines are starting to throttle down and are standing by for MECA or main engine cutoff.
03:09M-BAC chill started.
03:10We just heard that call out for M-BAC chill.
03:13And coming up in under like 20 seconds we have 5 events happening back to back.
03:18MECA. Stage 1 throttle down.
03:19Stage separation. Stage 1 flip. SES 1 and the start of boost back burn.
03:24It's going to be pretty quick so keep a close eye on the action and the mission event.
03:28Main engine cutoff.
03:29Tracker at the bottom of your screen.
03:30Stage 2 alpha.
03:33Stage separation.
03:342 alpha.
03:35And back ignition.
03:39There you see stage 1 pulling away.
03:44Ignition of the lone Merlin vacuum engine for stage 2.
03:50And again those happening in quick succession as we continue to get great views of that Florida coastline and the eastern seaboard there as crew 11 continuing its path to orbit.
03:59Now approaching 3 minutes into today's flight.
04:02Still a little ways to go.
04:03About 6 minutes left.
04:04As they continue to climb their way up and eventually track down the International Space Station.
04:10And there you see the Merlin vacuum engine, the second stage on the right hand side and great views of the first stage that's making its return to Earth on the left.
04:19About 5 and a half minutes of powered flight remaining as we continue to monitor the progress of both vehicle stage 2 and crew 11 making the climb uphill and stage 1 looking to land again at landing zone 1, the last landing at that location for this Falcon 9 booster.
04:38Dragon.
04:39Dragon.
04:40Space X.
04:41Nominal trajectory.
04:42Dragon.
04:43Copy.
04:44We are hearing.
04:45We're continuing to hear great call outs over the nets that both Dragon and Falcon are right on track to orbit.
04:53So the first stage booster is now on its way to landing zone 1 and we just saw those grid fins open up on the left hand side of your screen.
05:00The first stage has a couple events ahead of its landing.
05:02Stage 1 will start its entry burn, which will be the second of three burns to return the booster a few miles from its launch site at landing zone 1.
05:16During this entry burn, Falcon 9 will use its engines to park a few miles from its launch site at landing zone 1.
05:21burn which will be the second of three burns to return the booster a few miles from its launch
05:25site at landing zone one during this entry burn falcon 9 will use its engines to pump the brakes
05:30to slow the vehicle down before it reaches the denser parts of the earth's atmosphere
05:35and if you didn't know falcon 9 has a complex heat shield that is designed to protect the engines
05:40and the vehicle from all that combined thermal and aerodynamic loading during max entry queue
05:45which is the moment of max stress on the vehicle during entry and that will be followed by a landing
05:49burn and this burn will last dragon spacex nominal trajectory continuing to hear good calls
06:01great performance calls continue as we're now five minutes into today's flight still about eight and
06:07a half to go a little bit more than that is the second stage continuing to perform anomaly on the
06:10right hand side 2400 meters per second crew 11 cruising into the upper echelons of the earth's
06:19atmosphere while we continue to monitor the second stage on that left hand side and we'll also get
06:26continued guidance and navigation call outs from the control officers here in spacex dragon is pointed
06:34in the right direction and continuing its flight and again that second stage going to continue firing
06:38until close to that nine minute mark into flight and accelerating drag into more than 17 000 miles per
06:43hour and placing the crew in orbit you'll hear good orbital insertion would be that call out there's
06:48the single merlin vacuum engine that can produce over 220 000 nominal trajectory pounds of thrust on that
06:56nominal trajectory you're hearing right now and into the vacuum of space now approaching six minutes
07:02into today's flight about two minutes and 40 plus seconds remaining we are coming up on the entry burn which
07:09is just under 30 seconds from now and so you'll see the first stages center merlin engine reignite as it
07:16comes back down to earth and after that we will be approaching start up and there is the beginning of
07:24entry burn right there again this is the second of three burns to return the booster to landing zone one
07:31first shutdown we just made it through entry burn and you're getting some great views too on that
07:42stage one's return to the florida coastline again landing at landing zone one while on the right hand
07:47side the second stage and that merlin vacuum engine continuing to propel crew 11 dragon spacex nominal
07:52trajectory into orbit and dragging copies and again great and now with about two minutes left of a
08:01powered flight remaining still receiving those great calls from the crew on the ground and we're getting
08:06those relays from crew 11 commander xenocard h1 transonic we are now very quickly approaching the
08:12start of our landing burn where three engines engines one five and nine will relight to help slow the
08:19vehicle down just before it touches down on landing zone one we should hopefully have some great
08:26tracking shots of that stage one landing burn stage two fts is saved stage one landing leg deployed
08:36another
08:55another successful landing of the first stage booster as we continue to follow along with a little less now
09:01than one minute of powered flight of the second stage and you'll hear the call out seco or
09:06second engine cut off is great view there glowing orange with the earth eclipsing right around
09:15that merlin vacuum engine and everything continuing to perform nominally for nasa spacex terminal guidance
09:20about 20 more seconds remaining of powered flight and we'll get those call outs here shortly as
09:32everything continuing shannon copy shannon and there's the great call for shannon we talked about
09:40earlier that last abort zone if necessary where they can land off the coast of shannon ireland
09:45seiko
09:49there we just that heard that good call for seiko or second engine cutoff
09:59coming up next will be stage separation dragon spacex nominal orbit insertion
10:07and that's the great call you want to hear
10:08a good look inside the trunk there as you're looking for that separation but you want to hear that
10:18nominal orbital insertion as crew 11 now has reached microgravity so now we'll continue to coast
10:26for a little bit uh after after seiko to allow rates and motion from the burn to settle out
10:31right now we have a great view on our screen of the dragon heat shield actually which is made
10:40up of similar similar materials and there we have that dragon and stage two separation
10:49as we see dragon coast into its orbit
10:52and a wonderful view there is dragon endeavor with crew 11 on board safe separation confirmed and safe and
11:06dragon chief engineer on dragon the ground zina mike kimia holeg welcome to orbit
