NASA and SpaceX continue to shake hands on new missions

Missile Company SpaceX Elon Musk’s will launch the next long-term crewed launch to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA on April 27, according to CNA.

SpaceX’s launch vehicle, which includes a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket with a Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Freedom, was prepared to take off with a four-member crew from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA.

If all goes according to plan, the three American astronauts and the female European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut from Italy will dock at the space station about 17 hours after takeoff to begin the mission. Science lasted 6 months here.

In a pre-launch briefing on April 25, NASA said forecasts show a 90% chance of favorable weather conditions for the launch to proceed on time.

The newest mission, Crew 4 (Crew 4), will mark the fourth official ISS crew that NASA has sent into orbit aboard a SpaceX vehicle. In total, SpaceX has launched six manned flights into space in the past two years.

Tasked with commanding Crew 4 was Dr Kjell Lindgren, 49, an emergency medicine physician and one-time flight surgeon. This is the astronaut’s second flight to the ISS, where he spent 141 days in orbit in 2015. During that expedition, he twice spacewalked and participated in more than 100 projects. science, including the “Veggie” experiment that marked the first time an American crew member ate a plant in orbit.

The pilot assigned to the mission was rookie astronaut Bob Hines, 47, a fighter pilot, test pilot, and aeronautical instructor with the US Air Force, who has accumulated more than 3,500 flight hours in the air. 50 types of aircraft and performed 76 combat missions.

Another crew member who made his debut on the spacewalk as a mission expert is Jessica Watkins, 33, a geologist with a doctorate who studies the processes behind these waves. massive landslides on Mars and Earth. She joined the science team for the Mars rover Curiosity at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Flight 4 of the Crew will make Watkins the first African-American woman to join a long-term mission on Earth. International Space Station.

The last member of Crew 4 is Samantha Cristoforetti, 45, a female ESA astronaut and jet pilot with the Italian Air Force. She has already made her second flight to the space station and is expected to assume command of ISS operations for six months on the job, becoming the first European woman to be assigned the mission.

Crew 4 will be greeted by seven astronauts residing on the ISS, including the four members of Crew 3 they will be replacing and three human astronauts. Russia.