SpaceX and NASA will broadcast live radio chatter from the astronauts on Wednesday’s historic launch. Here’s how to listen.

by
https://static.businessinsider.sg/2020/05/05/5ecead46988ee331ce5c213c.jpeg
NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley board the elevator at launch pad 39A, May 27, 2020.NASA via Youtube

SpaceX is preparing for its first crewed launch ever: Its Crew Dragon spaceship is scheduled to carry two NASA astronauts into orbit on Wednesday, starting at 4:33 p.m. ET.

NASA and SpaceX are broadcasting live audio from the mission, called Demo-2, on NASA TV’s Youtube channel, which is embedded below. You’ll be able to hear what the two veteran astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, say aboard the SpaceX spacecraft as the rocket launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

NASA and SpaceX also have a YouTube video livestream of the launch, with commentary from NASA mission directors and other employees.

If you want to go old-school, you can also call in to one of NASAs three phone numbers: 321-867-1220, 321-867-1240, and 321-867-1260. They are all playing the countdown and live commentary. The space agency also has a number that features no-commentary, voice-only audio from the astronauts: 321-867-7135.

What this mission is

https://static.businessinsider.sg/2020/05/05/5ece9af4988ee3282b0789a5.jpeg
The sun sets in Cape Canaveral, Florida, as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship and Falcon 9 rocket await launch.SpaceX via Twitter

SpaceX is launching Behnken and Hurley to the International Space Station (ISS), where they are expected to stay for 110 days. If successful, this will be the US’s first crewed spacecraft launch since the end of NASA’s space shuttle program in 2011. Since then, NASA has been buying seats for its astronauts on Russian Soyuz spacecraft. A successful launch would also mark the first time humans have flown on a commercially made spaceship.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft and this launch are the product of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, a partnership between the space agency and two private companies – SpaceX and Boeing – to build human-ready spaceships that can ferry astronauts to and from the space station.