SpaceX, NASA shift Crew-8 astronaut launch to March
NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin are scheduled to launch on March 1.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – An American-Russian crew of astronauts will blast off from Florida in early March, beginning a six-month mission to the International Space Station, marking the 8th flight as part of NASA's Commercial Crew program.
SpaceX and NASA are targeting March 1 at 12:04 a.m. EST to launch the Crew-8 mission to the space station. Liftoff was scheduled for a week earlier, but NASA opted to delay the launch to clear the way for the Intuitive Machines' Moon lander launch, which happened on Feb. 15. SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets will launch both human spaceflight and IM-1 Moon missions.
"The Commercial Crew Program has been following along with the IM-1 mission preparations, and we are wishing the Intuitive Machines and SpaceX teams all the best ahead of this extremely complex mission to the lunar surface," NASA's Commercial Crew program manager Steve Stich said in a statement.
From left to right, Roscosmos cosmonaut mission specialist Alexander Grebenkin; NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, pilot; Matthew Dominick, commander; and mission specialist Jeanette Epps, who will fly aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8, participate in the Crew Equipment Interface Test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. (Photo credit: SpaceX)
(SpaceX)
When it happens, NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin will launch in the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to the ISS. The mission will mark the 8th part of NASA's Commercial program and the ninth for NASA overall, including Crew Dragon's historic first test flight with astronauts in 2020.
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The spacecraft launching the Crew-8 mission is named Endeavour and previously launched three NASA astronaut missions and the first private astronaut mission for Axiom Space.
Epps, Barratt and Grebenkin are first-time space flyers. The mission will be Barratt's third of his career.
2023 FILE: NASA astronaut and SpaceX Crew-8 mission specialist Jeanette Epps is pictured in her pressure suit during a crew equipment integration test at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX
(SpaceX)
The visit to the low-Earth orbiting laboratory has been a long time coming for Epps.
She was assigned to a 2018 Soyuz launch to the ISS but ultimately did not launch on that mission. She was later assigned to fly on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft and then reassigned to Crew Dragon last year. Now, six years after she was first set to fly, she will launch on an American spacecraft.