NASA and SpaceX have announced the couple’s autumn mission to send four astronauts to the country International Space Station will not start earlier than October 23rd.
The decision comes as the two organizations prepare for the pre-launch of the astronaut Crew-2, currently scheduled for April 22, which will transport crew members from three different space agencies to the orbital laboratory: NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (ESA) and astronaut Exploration Agency (JAXA), astronaut Akihiko from Japan. Hoshide.
The launch of October, christened Crew-3, will also transport four astronauts to the orbital laboratory for a six-month stay. NASA has already announced that the aircraft will carry US astronauts Raja Chari and Tom Marshburn and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer; the fourth crew member has yet to be publicly identified.
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In conjunction with the October 23 launch window for Crew-3, Crew-2 will not return to Earth until October 31, giving the two groups about a week’s overlap to safely switch the space station to the next residents .
The Crew-3 flight will be SpaceX’s third full-fledged crew for NASA; the company also has two veteran astronauts on a two-month demonstration mission in May 2020.
SpaceX is one of two companies working with NASA’s commercial crew program to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner vehicle will also start making such flights once it has completed test flights, perhaps this year.
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