NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission launching from Kennedy Space Centre. Image: NASA/Bill Stafford
The members of Crew-8 are expected to dock with the ISS on 5 March, where they will relieve Crew-7 and conduct hundreds of scientific experiments aboard the space station.
Four astronauts have successfully begun their journey to the International Space Station (ISS) onboard a SpaceX rocket, as part of the NASA Crew-8 mission.
The SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket successfully launched at roughly 3:53am Irish time today (4 March) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The rocket and its crew are on a 28-hour voyage to reach the ISS.
NASA said the SpaceX rocket propelled a Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin. This crew will conduct a science expedition aboard the orbital laboratory.
“On this eighth crew rotation mission, we are once again showing the strength of our commercial partnerships and American ingenuity that will propel us further in the cosmos,” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson. “Aboard the station, the crew will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations to help fuel this new era of space exploration and benefit humanity here on Earth.”
Some of the planned experiments include using stem cells to create organoid models to study degenerative diseases, studying the effects of microgravity and UV radiation on plants and testing whether wearing pressure cuffs on the legs could prevent fluid shifts and reduce health problems in astronauts.
The Dragon spacecraft – named Endeavour – is scheduled to dock to the forward port of the ISS’s Harmony module on 5 March. SpaceX will monitor the Endeavour’s automatic spacecraft manoeuvers from its mission control centre in California, while NASA teams will monitor space station operations throughout the flight from agency’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston.
This marks NASA’s eighth commercial crew rotation mission with Space-X. The number of occupants on the ISS will reach 11 for a few days after Crew-8 docks with the station, before the members of Crew-7 begin their journey back to Earth.
The ISS has been in orbit for more than 25 years and is regarded as the most successful platform for global cooperation in space, as more than 270 astronauts from 21 countries have visited the station. But its time is running out as there are plans to decommission the ISS at the end of the decade.
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