On Sept. 26, SpaceX and NASA conducted a flight readiness review (FRR) for Crew-5 that lasted for more than nine hours. The FRR revealed no significant technical issues, so the Crew-5 teams are continuing to prepare for a launch on October 3 at 12:46 p.m. EDT (1646 GMT) from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, told reporters on the phone this afternoon, 'I thought it was a pretty thorough evaluation.' We're still on schedule to debut on October 3rd.

However, that strategy depends on Hurricane Ian's potential to only have a modest impact on KSC, which is located on Florida's Atlantic coast.

The winds from Ian, which is presently making its way north across the Caribbean, have already started to batter the Florida Keys. The hurricane is expected to pound Florida's Gulf Coast particularly hard during the coming days, but KSC may also be in the storm's path. In fact, as a precaution, NASA is rolling the massive Artemis 1 moon rocket off KSC's Pad 39B this evening in order to transport the priceless gear to the facility's Vehicle Assembly Building safely. (Artemis 1 was supposed to go to the moon on Tuesday; it's too soon to make predictions about when it will launch again.)

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule that will fly the Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) are safe; they haven't yet rolled out to Pad 39A. If the weather cooperates, the Crew-5 stack will likely roll out on Sept. 29, the same day that the mission's four crewmembers fly in to KSC, Bill Gerstenmaier, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, said during today's briefing.

Those four astronauts — NASA's Nicole Aunapu Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan's Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina — were supposed to arrive at KSC today, but the threat of Hurricane Ian is keeping them away for now. (Crew-5 will mark the first time a cosmonaut has flown to the ISS on a private American spacecraft.)

Backup opportunities will be offered on October 4 and October 5, as well as from October 7 through October 9, Stich added, if the storm cancels an attempt on October 3. Due to orbital dynamics concerns, October 6 is out of the running. Before returning to Earth, the Crew-5 astronauts will stay in the orbiting lab for nearly five months.

Even though today's FRR proceeded without a hitch, the crews found two minor problems that need more investigation, according to Stich. One is a probable non-standard weld in composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs), which are an element of the Falcon 9's propulsion system, and the other is a bond on a segment of the Dragon's exterior.

Stich and Gerstenmaier predicted that both concerns would be resolved within the next couple of days.

It's not known if the Crew-5 Falcon 9, which will be flying for the first time, is even affected by the weld issue. But considering that the problem appeared on additional COPVs created using the same methods and/or individuals, Gerstenmaier said it's possible.

'We have already tested it, and it appears to be satisfactory. Tomorrow, we'll evaluate those results with NASA. They'll review it, verify our work, and make sure it's satisfactory 'Added he. I would say that moving ahead, we are taking this step to ensure that we are flying the best gear possible.

Apparently improper lowering caused the Crew-5 Falcon 9 first stage to strike an overpass while being transported from SpaceX's rocket manufacturing near Los Angeles to its Texas testing facilities. Gerstenmaier added that the repair work, which delayed the scheduled launch of Crew-5 a little, has undergone a thorough inspection.