Mission Crew-2: NASA set to launch SpaceX Crew Dragon’s second flight
Heading for the International Space Station
Published Date - 22 April 2021, 06:45 PM
US space agency NASA is set to launch SpaceX Crew Dragon’s second flight to the International Space Station on April 22. The Crew-2 with four astronauts on board will lift off at 6:11 a.m. EDT on April 22, from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Thomas Pesquet France(L), Megan McArthur the US, Shane Kimbrough the US, Akihiko Hoshide Japan(R)
The Crew-2 flight will carry NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur — whoa-will serve as the mission’s spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively — along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronauta-Akihikoa-Hoshidea-and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomasa-Pesquet, whoa-will serve as mission specialists to the space station, the space agency said in a statement.
The mission is the second of the six certified, crew missions NASA, and SpaceX will fly as a part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Programme. Crew-1 successfully docked into the ISS in November, last year.
Six-month expedition
The Crew-2 astronauts will remain aboard the space station for approximately six months as expedition crew members, along with three crewmates who will launch via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The increase of the full space station crew complement to seven members — over the previous six – will allow NASA to effectively double the amount of science that can be conducted in space, NASA said.
Schedule
The Crew-2 mission will see a veteran SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch a refurbished Crew Dragon spacecraft on a 23-hour trip to the space station. Liftoff is set for 6:11 a.m. EDT on Thursday (1011 GMT) from KSC’s historic Pad 39A. If all goes according to plan, the Crew Dragon — which was named Endeavor by its previous crew — will dock with the ISS at around 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT) on Friday.
Their ride to orbit will be the first time that crew will not ride to space on a shiny new Falcon 9 rocket; their booster, which rolled out to the pad Friday morning (April 16) for a planned prelaunch static fire test on Saturday (April 17), first flew in November as it delivered the Crew-1 crew to space.
GFX
SpaceX Crew Dragon
Falcon 9 rocket
Produced by SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company
First partially reusable rocket
Set to liftoff Thursday from Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, with 4 astronauts
Mission
– 6-months duration
– Experiments planned include studies of sleep and effects of weightlessness on the brain
– 4 spacewalks planned with one to- install new solar panels
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