NASA, SpaceX announce successful launch of 8th commercial crew mission to ISS
NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 mission is the agency's 8th commercial crew rotation mission with the Elon Musk owned company to the space station. Read More
Washington: An international crew of four reached orbit following a successful launch to the International Space Station (ISS) at 10:53 p.m. EST Sunday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 mission is the agency's 8th commercial crew rotation mission with the Elon Musk owned company to the space station.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, for a science expedition aboard the orbital laboratory.
"Aboard the station, the crew will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations to help fuel this new era of space exploration and benefit humanity here on Earth", said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
During Dragon's flight, SpaceX will monitor a series of automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California.
NASA teams will monitor the space station operations throughout the flight from the Mission Control Center at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, will dock autonomously to the forward port of the station's Harmony module about 3 a.m. Tuesday, March 5.
Crew-8 will join the space station's Expedition 70 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko, and Nikolai Chubb.
For a short time, the number of crew aboard the space station will increase to 11 until Crew-7 members Moghbeli, Mogensen, Furukawa, and Borisov return to Earth a few days later.
With this mission, NASA will maximize use of the space station, where astronauts have lived and worked continuously for more than 23 years testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to operate future commercial destinations in low Earth orbit and explore farther from Earth.
Research conducted on the space station provides benefits for people on Earth and paves the way for future long-duration trips to the Moon and beyond through NASA's Artemis missions.
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