Just a few days before SpaceX launches four more astronauts to space, NASA has released a trailer highlighting the mission. You can watch it below:
The Crew-3 astronauts heading to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, October 31, are NASA’s Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, along with Matthias Maurer from the European Space Agency.
They’ll launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission marks the fourth crewed launch using SpaceX hardware, following the first Crew Dragon astronaut flight in the summer of 2020.
In the trailer, Kathy Leuders, associate administrator of space operations at NASA, said: “The crew going up are going to be doing even more science and pushing the bounds of technology.”
The four astronauts will live and work aboard the orbiting laboratory for about six months, carrying out science experiments in microgravity conditions and performing spacewalks to continue work upgrading the station’s power supply. There may even be time for a dinner party or two.
During their time in space, the Crew-3 astronauts will welcome two different private crews to the ISS, including Japanese tourists aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft at the end of this year, and Axiom’s Ax-1 mission sending the first private crew to the ISS in early 2022.
Marshburn is the only Crew-3 member who has been to space before. In fact, this will be his third mission to the ISS aboard his third vehicle, with the space veteran previously traveling aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour and a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Chari has flown with the U.S. Air Force and participated in combat missions in Iraq, while Barron graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering. She is a qualified submarine warfare officer.
Germany-born Maurer has picked up a number of national awards for outstanding research in the field of materials sciences, and five years ago spent just over two weeks underwater as part of efforts to test exploration techniques and tools for future Mars missions.
While preparing for his first space mission, Maurer earlier this year gave space fans an exclusive peek at preparations for his upcoming space station stay, and also showed off an important new skill that astronauts are required to learn before heading there.
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