Fri 12 November 2021:
On Thursday, a SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts docked with the International Space Station, beginning a six-month mission there
Crew-3 is part of NASA’s multibillion-dollar cooperation with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which was inked after the Space Shuttle program terminated in 2011 with the goal of restoring US capability to carry out human spaceflight rather than relying on Russia for linkages to the International Space Station.
After the astronauts from the earlier Crew-2 mission splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, the ISS has been operating with just one NASA astronaut in the US section to welcome the incoming crew.
Photos from Falcon 9’s launch of Crew-3 – honored to fly this mission with two U.S. service members on board. Thank you to all who have served and sacrificed! #VeteransDay pic.twitter.com/Zg8j98trAy
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 11, 2021
Crew-3’s Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Tom Marshburn of the United States, as well as Matthias Maurer of Germany, flew into space aboard a Crew Dragon capsule attached to a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. They took off late on Wednesday.
The Endurance spacecraft docked with the International Space Station about 7:10 p.m. on Thursday (0010 GMT Friday).
The flight was originally scheduled for October 31 but was postponed due to weather and subsequently a “small medical issue” affecting one of the crew members. NASA did not reveal who it was, but said it had nothing to do with Covid.
Along with Barron and Maurer, Chari, a US Air Force colonel, is heading the mission and making his first trip to space.
Marshburn, a medical doctor, flew on a Space Shuttle mission in 2009 and a Russian Soyuz trip in 2012-13.
Barron, a submarine warfare officer for the Navy, and Chari, a materials science engineer, were selected for the NASA astronaut corps in 2017, the most recent recruiting, while Maurer, a materials science engineer, is the 12th German to travel into space.
The foursome will stay on the orbital outpost for six months, conducting research that will aid future deep space exploration and benefit life on Earth.
The Crew-3 astronauts will also participate in two tourism missions, including Japanese visitors on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft at the end of the year and the Space-X Axiom crew, which is scheduled to launch in February 2022.
(with agency) | Photo: Crew-3 astronauts will also conduct spacewalks to complete an upgrade of station’s solar panels.
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