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The Crew-1 mission is the first operational flight of the Crew Dragon capsule.
Four astronauts are expected to enter orbit on Sunday during the historic first operational flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of the NASA crew trade mission.
This is Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX’s second crewed mission, following the successful launch and return of NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley with the Demo-2 mission this summer.
It is also the culmination of years of collaboration between NASA and the private sector in an effort to bring launch capabilities back to US soil and end Russia’s reliance on travel. to the International Space Station.
“This is another historic moment – it seems to me that every time I come to Kennedy [Space Center] we’re making history, and it’s no different, “NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a pre-launch press conference on Friday.” The story made this time around is that we’re launching what we call an operational flight to Station International Space. “
“The aim here is to market our activities in low earth orbit,” he added. “NASA wants to be one of the customers for many customers in a very robust commercial market for manned flights in low Earth orbit.”
The launch is scheduled for Sunday at 7:27 p.m. ET from Station 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, after being pushed back – first to assess an engine problem with the Falcon 9 rocket, then once again in because of the weather. The launch and docking will be streamed live on the NASA website.
Meet the diverse crew
The historic launch crew includes a Space Force colonel, a black pilot leaving Earth for the first time, a woman who has logged nearly 4,000 hours in space, and an astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. .
NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, as well as JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, are expected to stay on the ISS for six months after launch and help with maintenance and research.
Hopkins, the mission commander, spent 166 days in space and performed several space walks. The Missouri native worked as a flight test engineer in the Air Force before joining NASA.
This will be the first space flight for Glover, the pilot and second in command. Originally from California, Glover was selected as an astronaut in 2013 and is a former naval aviator.
Walker is the team’s mission specialist. She is a veteran of the ISS, having spent 161 days aboard the Orbital Laboratory in 2010 to conduct numerous experiments.
Noguchi, also a mission specialist, is NASA-SpaceX’s first international crew member. Noguchi has participated in two space flights and made history as the first Japanese astronaut to perform a spacewalk outside the ISS in 2005.
Late last month, the crew said they named their spacecraft “Resilience” – a nod to the ability to overcome the myriad challenges that have been thrown at them during this tumultuous year.
“When you look at the definition of resilience, I know it means performing well under stress or overcoming adverse events, and I think we can all agree that 2020 has definitely been a tough year,” Hopkins said during of a press conference.
“The name ‘Resilience’ is therefore really in honor of the SpaceX and NASA teams, and, quite frankly, it is in honor of our families, our colleagues, our fellow citizens, our international partners. and our leaders who have all shown this same quality, this same characteristic, through these difficult times, ”he added.
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