NASA and SpaceX have introduced that the pair’s autumn mission to ship 4 astronauts to the International Space Station will launch no sooner than Oct. 23.
The choice comes as the 2 organizations are getting ready for the previous astronaut launch, referred to as Crew-2, which is at the moment scheduled for April 22 and which is able to carry crewmembers from three totally different area businesses to the orbiting laboratory: NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, European House Company (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japan Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.
The October launch, dubbed Crew-3, will even carry 4 astronauts to the orbiting laboratory for a six-month keep. NASA has already introduced that the flight will carry U.S. astronauts Raja Chari and Tom Marshburn and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer; the fourth crewmember has but to be recognized publicly.
Associated: Astronauts move SpaceX capsule to new docking port for 1st time
Along with the Oct. 23 launch window for Crew-Three, Crew-2 will return to Earth no sooner than Oct. 31, giving the 2 cohorts a few week of overlap to transition the area station safely to its subsequent residents.
The Crew-Three flight will likely be SpaceX’s third full-fledged crewed mission for NASA; the corporate additionally launched two veteran astronauts on a two-month demonstration mission in May 2020.
SpaceX is one in every of two corporations working with NASA’s Industrial Crew Program to ferry astronauts to the Worldwide House Station. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner automobile will even start making such flights as soon as it completes take a look at flights, maybe this yr.
E-mail Meghan Bartels at mbartels@area.com or observe her on Twitter @meghanbartels. Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Fb.
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