Cape Canaveral, Florida – SpaceX is poised for another critical step in its preparations for the Crew-11 mission, with a static fire test of its Falcon 9 rocket successfully conducted on Monday, July 28, 2025. This vital test, a standard procedure to verify the health and readiness of the launch vehicle, involved fueling the Falcon 9 and briefly igniting its nine Merlin engines for approximately 10 seconds while the rocket remained securely clamped to the launchpad.
The Falcon 9, crowned with the Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, is scheduled to launch the Crew-11 mission from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, July 31, 2025. This mission will transport three astronauts and one cosmonaut to the International Space Station (ISS) for an extended stay.
The static fire test, with engine ignition occurring at 3:09 p.m. EDT (1909 UTC), followed a dry dress rehearsal where the Crew-11 astronauts boarded the un-fueled Crew Dragon. Spaceflight Now provided live coverage of the event.
For this upcoming mission, SpaceX is utilizing Falcon 9 first stage booster serial number B1094. This will be its third flight, having previously supported the Starlink 12-10 mission on April 29 and the Axiom Mission 4 on June 25. The fully integrated rocket was rolled out from the hangar at LC-39A and positioned at the launch site earlier on Sunday.
The Crew-11 team, comprised of mission commander and NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui, arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Saturday. Both Zena Cardman and Oleg Platonov are embarking on their inaugural journey to space, while Mike Fincke will be undertaking his fourth mission and Kimiya Yui his second trip to the ISS. The crew is expected to reside and work on the orbiting laboratory for a minimum of six months, with a potential extension to eight months under consideration by NASA and its international partners to align with Russia's Soyuz mission schedules. A final decision on the mission duration is anticipated about a month after Crew-11 successfully docks with the ISS.
This static fire test marks a significant milestone, clearing the path for the Crew-11 mission to proceed as planned, continuing the vital work of human spaceflight and international collaboration on the International Space Station.
For more details on the upcoming launch, you can refer to the original coverage:
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