The astronauts spent 16 hours in orbit aboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft after a pre-sunrise launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:52 a.m. ET. The fully autonomous capsule orbited the Earth more than ten times, maneuvering closer to the ISS before making light, precise contact with one of the space station’s docking ports at 7:37 p.m. ET.
The mission, called Crew-4, marks a return to crew-launched SpaceX in partnership with NASA after the company completed its first fully private mission to the space station for wealthy paying customers on Monday.
On board are NASA astronauts Kel Lindgren, Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins, and Italian astronaut Samantha Christophoretti, who is flying on behalf of the European Space Agency.
Here’s everything you need to know about Crew-4.
What makes this flight historic?
Jessica Watkins is the first black woman to join the space station’s long-term crew.
Although more than a dozen black Americans – including four black women – have traveled in space since Guyon Blueford first began doing so in 1983, no black woman has been able to live and work in space for long periods of time. as the ISS has enabled more than 200 astronauts to do since 2000.
“This is certainly an important stage, in my opinion, for both of us [space] “Agency for the country,” Watkins told a news conference last month. “I think it’s really just a tribute to the legacy of the black female astronauts who were in front of me, as well as the exciting future.”
She has a long history with NASA, having started her career there as an intern, having previously worked at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, and at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where she worked with Curiosity. Mars rover. A trained geologist, she studied the surface of the Red Planet. Watkins’ crew nicknamed her “Wattie.”
Who else is on this mission?
The crew of this mission was one of the first to include just as many women as men.
Christophoretti, who was on a previous mission to the ISS in 2014-2015, is the only woman in the ESA astronaut squad. But Cristoforetti told reporters last month that the situation “should end very soon”.
“We definitely expect to have a great woman [ESA] colleagues by the end of the year, “she added.
Christophoretti, a veteran of the Italian Air Force who won his fighter wings, joined the ESA in 2009.
Hines is a 22-year veteran of the US Air Force and this is his first time traveling in space since being selected as a member of NASA’s astronauts in 2017.
Lindgren, the commander of this mission, is certified in emergency medicine, and before being selected to ascend to heaven, he worked as a flight surgeon on Earth at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, assisting other astronaut missions. Lindgren was born in Taiwan and spent much of his childhood in England before moving to the United States and attending the United States Air Force Academy.
This group of four astronauts spent months training together and even took some time to make some extracurricular connections. Watkins noted that they went on a kayak trip to Eastern Washington “just to spend some time getting to know each other and understand how we all function … and what makes each of us tick, and I think this will be really crucial “
“We get along great. It’s just such a joy to have these people on this team,” Lindgren added.
How did they get to space?
The crew is traveling aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which, since entering service in 2020, has already launched seven crew missions.
Although SpaceX is designing a reusable Crew Dragon and three capsules are already in service, the Crew-4 is flying aboard a brand new spacecraft they called Freedom.
Crew Dragon was developed by SpaceX under a $ 2.6 billion contract with NASA as part of the Merchant Crew Program. The idea behind the program was to move NASA to the role of client – allowing private companies to design, build and test a new spacecraft to serve NASA astronauts while giving the company ownership of the vehicle.
Because SpaceX controls the vehicle, it has the ability to sell seats to whomever it wants, hence the all-private mission the company has just completed and a previous space tourism mission that launched last September.
At NASA, the program is considered a success, and the space agency is adopting the same method of negotiating for several vehicles involved in its lunar exploration efforts.
What will they do in space?
Now that they have arrived on the ISS, the crew will encounter seven astronauts already on board the ISS – including three NASA astronauts and one ESA astronaut who were part of the SpaceX Crew-3 mission, and three Russian astronauts. .
There will be about a five-day transmission period during which Crew-3 astronauts will help Crew-4 astronauts settle in before Crew-3 returns home aboard its own SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
Crew-4 astronauts will then take on all the scientific experiments and space station maintenance responsibilities they have on their to-do list.
“The experiments will include studies on the aging of the immune system, alternatives to organic materials and cardiorespiratory effects during and after prolonged exposure to microgravity,” according to NASA. “These are just some of the more than 200 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations that will take place during their mission.”
Crew-4 is expected to return from space in September, shortly after SpaceX launches its Crew-5 mission.
CNN’s Megan Marples contributed.
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