NASA, SpaceX Crew-11: Watch the Historic Launch on Netflix, Prime

The next rocket to fly on a mission to send astronauts to space is heading to a streaming service near you.

Two major streaming platforms, Netflix and Amazon Prime, will cover NASA’s Crew-11 mission as it launches from Florida. While the US space agency’s live cosmic programming has been available on Prime since May, the forthcoming mission will be the first launch with astronauts to be streamed on Netflix, one of the world’s largest streaming platforms.

The four astronauts chosen for the Crew-11 mission, a collaboration between NASA and SpaceX, will journey to the International Space Station around 250 miles above Earth. The astronauts will spend a few months at the orbital laboratory conducting scientific research geared for microgravity conditions.

However, the otherwise routine mission has a bit more significance: the Crew-11 astronauts will replace the Crew-10 contingent, which landed at the space station in mid-March in a headline-grabbing spaceflight that laid the ground for the conclusion of the infamous Starliner drama.

Here’s everything you need to know about the forthcoming launch, including how to watch a livestream of the SpaceX rocket liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

What is Crew 11? What to know about NASA’s SpaceX mission

Crew-11 is NASA and SpaceX’s 11th science mission to the International Space Station.

The trips, which typically last six months, are contracted through NASA’s commercial crew program. The initiative allows NASA to pay SpaceX to launch and carry personnel and cargo to orbit using the company’s own rockets, freeing up NASA to focus on its Artemis lunar program and other spaceflight missions, such as future crewed voyages to Mars.

The arrival of the astronauts chosen for the Crew-11 mission at the space station will clear the way for four more to depart. In mid-March, their Crew-10 predecessors arrived at the ISS in a headline-grabbing mission, setting the stage for the long-awaited departure of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, NASA astronauts who crewed the ill-fated Boeing Starliner space spacecraft.

The Crew-10 members, NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, Japanese JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, will make a sea landing off the coast of California a few days after their replacements arrive.

What time does the Crew-11 mission launch from Florida?

According to NASA, the Crew-11 mission will launch no earlier than 12:09 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 31, from near Cape Canaveral, Florida.

SpaceX launches the crew missions from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, using their Falcon 9 rocket, one of the most active in the world. The astronauts themselves travel in a Dragon crew capsule, the only US spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to and from the space station.

Following liftoff, the Falcon 9 climbs to around 17,500 miles per hour before the Dragon separates in orbit and uses its own thrusters to power its trip to the space station. NASA and SpaceX mission control will monitor a series of maneuvers that will guide Dragon to the Earth-facing port of the station’s Harmony module, where it is planned to dock autonomously around 3 a.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 2.

How to watch the livestream of Crew-11 launch on Netflix and Prime

Viewers have numerous options for following NASA’s scheduled live coverage of both the Falcon 9 launch and Dragon’s arrival at the space station.

NASA+, the US agency’s online streaming network, will begin coverage of the launch at 8 a.m. ET on Thursday, July 31. NASA+ content is available for viewing on desktop from the agency’s official website and YouTube channel, as well as downloading as a mobile app for smartphones.

NASA has also lately made all of the platform’s content available via Amazon Prime and Netflix.

NASA+ debuted in May on Prime’s live channels, making it available to all users regardless of subscription status.

However, users would require a Netflix subscription to see NASA programming on the popular site, which has a global audience of 700 million people. Viewers should be able to find live NASA+ material on Netflix, alongside other popular shows.

A post-launch news conference is set for 1:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast exclusively on NASA’s YouTube channel.

NASA+ coverage is set to continue at 1 a.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 2, when the Dragon approaches and docks at the space station, with the hatch opening around 5:30 a.m. to allow the crew to enter the station and greet the other astronauts.

Who are the astronauts on the Crew-11 mission?

The Crew-11 mission includes four spacefarers:

• Mission commander Zena Cardman, a NASA astronaut from Virginia
• Pilot Mike Fincke, a NASA astronaut from Pennsylvania
• Mission specialist Kimiya Yui, a Japanese astronaut with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
• Mission specialist Oleg Platonov, a Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut