SpaceX moves a rocket to the launch pad in preparation for the Crew-5 astronaut flight

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule that will fly the Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station stand on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida shortly after rolling out on Oct. 1, 2022. (Image credit: SpaceX via Twitter)

The hardware for SpaceX's next crew mission for NASA is poised and ready for takeoff. The Crew-5 mission is set to launch from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida at noon EDT (1600 GMT) on Wednesday (Oct. 5), and crew members have been ticking boxes in the leadup. On Saturday (Oct. 1), four Crew-5 astronauts arrived at KSC from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, including NASA's Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan's Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina.

Another shot of the Crew-5 stack on Pad 39A Oct. 1, 2022. The mission is scheduled to launch on Oct. 5. (Image credit: SpaceX via Twitter)

The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule that will launch Crew-5 were hauled out to Pad 39A from SpaceX's processing facility at KSC on the same day. By SpaceX standards, the Falcon 9 is startlingly white and spotless; Elon Musk's business is known for landing and reflying rockets, which become soot-blackened on their return journeys to Earth. However, Crew-5 will be the first mission utilizing this Falcon 9 first stage.

Crew-5, SpaceX, and @NASA completed a full rehearsal of launch day activities pic.twitter.com/NbcefjA7bL

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 2, 2022

 Mann, Cassada, Wakata, and Kikina will be sent to the International Space Station for a five-month stay as part of Crew-5. The mission will create history in a variety of ways. Kikina, for example, will be the first cosmonaut to ride on a SpaceX trip to orbit. Mann will be the first Native American woman to cross the last frontier.

Crew-5 is scheduled to launch on Oct. 5, 2022. It will send NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan's Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina to the International Space Station for about five months.  (Image credit: SpaceX via Twitter)

NASA and SpaceX had planned to launch Crew-5 today (October 3), but Hurricane Ian delayed everything by two days. The storm's impact on NASA's Artemis 1 lunar mission was far more catastrophic. NASA had set September 27 as the launch date for Artemis 1, which would take off from KSC's Pad 39B. However, the Artemis 1 crew moved Artemis 1 off the pad last week to protect it from Ian and is now targeting a mid-November launch.