4 crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission launched at 11:43 a.m. EDT Friday from Launch Advanced 39A on the company’s Kennedy House Heart in Florida for a science expedition aboard the Worldwide House Station.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Company) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. The spacecraft will dock autonomously to the space-facing port of the station’s Concord module at roughly 3 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2.
“Due to the daring management of President Donald J. Trump, NASA is again! The company’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the house station is step one towards our everlasting presence on the Moon. NASA, at the side of nice American corporations, continues the mission with Artemis in 2026. This Moon mission will guarantee America wins the house race – crucial to nationwide safety – and leads within the rising, thrilling and extremely worthwhile personal sector industrial house enterprise,” mentioned appearing NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. “The Industrial Crew Program and Artemis missions show what American ingenuity, and cutting-edge American manufacturing can obtain. We’re going to the Moon…to remain! After that, we go to Mars! Welcome to the Golden Age of exploration!”
Throughout Dragon’s flight, SpaceX will monitor a sequence of automated spacecraft maneuvers from its mission management heart in Hawthorne, California. NASA will monitor house station operations all through the flight from the Mission Management Heart on the company’s Johnson House Heart in Houston.
NASA’s stay protection resumes at 1 a.m., Aug. 2, on NASA+ with rendezvous, docking, and hatch opening. After docking, the crew will change out of their spacesuits and put together cargo for offload earlier than opening the hatch between Dragon and the house station’s Concord module round 4:45 a.m. As soon as the brand new crew is aboard the orbital outpost, NASA will present protection of the welcome ceremony starting at roughly 5:45 a.m.
Learn to watch NASA content by way of quite a lot of platforms, together with social media.
The variety of crew aboard the house station will enhance to 11 for a short while as Crew-11 joins NASA astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, and Jonny Kim, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 will depart the house station after the arrival of Crew-11 and a handover interval. Forward of Crew-10’s return, mission groups will evaluate climate circumstances on the splashdown websites off the coast of California previous to departure from station.
Throughout their mission, Crew-11 will conduct scientific research to prepare for human exploration past low Earth orbit and profit humanity on Earth. Collaborating crew members will simulate lunar landings, take a look at methods to safeguard imaginative and prescient, and advance different human spaceflight research led by NASA’s Human Research Program. The crew additionally will examine plant cell division and microgravity’s results on bacteria-killing viruses, in addition to carry out experiments to provide the next quantity of human stem cells and generate on-demand vitamins.
The mission is a part of NASA’s Industrial Crew Program, which supplies dependable entry to house, maximizing the usage of the station for analysis and improvement and supporting future missions past low Earth orbit by partnering with personal corporations to move astronauts to and from the house station.
Study extra concerning the company’s Industrial Crew Program at:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
-end-
Josh Finch / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Steven Siceloff
Kennedy House Heart, Florida
321-867-2468
steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson House Heart, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov