SpaceX is in the final stages of certifying a second pad for astronaut launches, aiming to ease launch site congestion and increase its capacity for sending humans to space. Up until now, all crewed missions were launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the only pad certified for human spaceflight. However, SpaceX has long planned to upgrade a second pad, SLC-40 at the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, to expand its crew launch capacity.
Progress is being made towards this goal, with a crew access arm and emergency egress system recently installed at the pad. These improvements will allow astronauts to access the crew Dragon spacecraft and provide a quick escape route in case of an emergency. According to VP of Launch Kiko Dontchev, these upgrades will help SpaceX accommodate larger towers and spaceships, potentially carrying up to 100 people on a Starship.
Next in line for SpaceX is the CRS-30 cargo resupply mission, launching tomorrow at 4:55 PM EDT. This mission marks the company’s 30th delivery of essential materials to astronauts aboard the ISS since 2012. Following this cargo mission, SpaceX plans to advance to astronaut launches, building on the success of their cargo missions using variants of the Dragon spacecraft. VP of build and flight reliability, Bill Gerstenmaier, expressed confidence in the progress made at the pad, indicating that CRS-30 is likely the next step towards launching astronauts into space.
