By [ad_1]
A brand new set of astronauts are prepared for an Worldwide House Station launch.
SpaceX is ready to launch 4 new astronauts on the Crew Dragon spacecraft for Crew-8, the eighth operational industrial crew mission for NASA, to the International Space Station no sooner than Mar. 1.
Crew-8 consists of NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick (commander), Michael Barratt (pilot), and Jeanette Epps (mission specialist), together with mission specialist Alexander Grebenkin, of the Russian house company Roscosmos.
All the crew are rookies except for Barratt, who’s on his third journey following flights in 2009 (ISS Expeditions 19-20) and 2011 (the house shuttle’s STS-133). Epps was beforehand assigned to 2 different missions on Russia’s Soyuz and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, however was reassigned from each for various reasons.
Associated: NASA selects astronauts for SpaceX Crew-8 mission to International Space Station
The crew’s private mementos are, as typically the case in these missions, callbacks to significant moments and other people of their lives. The 4 shared their plans to hold a couple of small issues throughout a livestreamed Crew-8 press convention at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, on Jan. 25.
Dominick plans to loft a watch that he stated is much like what the astronauts wore throughout Apollo moon missions (the astronauts used Omega Speedmasters). This watch is one he acquired from his father, who has held it since 1970. The 2 used to time their street journey distances between mile markers utilizing that watch, he shared.
Amongst Barratt’s mementos will likely be “hardcore pictures” (printed out pictures) of his household, whereas Epps will carry up a photograph of her mom. “5 days after I used to be chosen (as an astronaut candidate), my mother handed away,” added Epps, who joined NASA in June 2009. “I would not be right here if it wasn’t for her, and her work ethic and her emphasis on schooling rising up.”
House.com spoke with three of the 4 astronauts individually on Jan. 25 to study extra about their spaceflight or spaceflight-related experiences. (Epps was unavailable.)
Considered one of Barratt’s most “attention-getting occasions of my life” occurred throughout STS-133 in February 2011, he shared, when Canadarm2 froze in place whereas spacewalking NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen was mounted on the robotic arm. “I am wonderful so long as it is not an excessive amount of longer,” Bowen told the space shuttle crew. Barratt was one of many group controlling the arm from a workstation contained in the Cupola — a 360-degree set of home windows permitting for excellent views of robotic actions.
The cupola controls for Canadarm2 weren’t working, based on the NASA spacewalk historical past e book “Walking to Olympus.” However switching to a backup Canadarm2 station within the U.S. Future laboratory shortly solved the difficulty. Though the science hub was tucked additional contained in the ISS and away from the massive home windows, Barratt stated this state of affairs confirmed that backups are all the time helpful. “Issues shock you, however we’re prepared for these surprises for essentially the most half,” he stated.
Whereas Dominick has but to fly to house, the Navy pilot is well-known across the Astronaut Workplace for organizing astronauts to buzz the Artemis 1 rocket in 2022, earlier than that mission flew a human-rated capsule with mannequins across the moon. Artemis 1 was the debut moon mission of the better Artemis program that goals to place people on the moon once more no sooner than 2026.
The ensuing photos of the astronaut group in T-38 trainers beside Artemis 1’s Space Launch System rocket “are all around the Kennedy House Heart and Johnson House Heart”, Dominick shared in a small-group interview with House.com on Jan. 25, though his coaching schedule didn’t enable him to participate personally. The pictures have been enhanced in true NASA planning style: Dominick and his staff used software program to determine the fitting time to fly for good lighting angles from the solar.
Grebenkin, a pilot for the Russian armed forces, stated he’s having fun with the problem of studying the programs aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule alongside his earlier coaching with Soyuz.
When requested about key variations, he stated by way of an English-language interpreter that it is not solely about studying a brand new automobile, however “getting accustomed a brand new coaching strategy” with American instructors as a substitute of Russian. Whereas Grebenkin didn’t elaborate on the worldwide variations, he added that the majority Russian coaching time for cosmonauts is dedicated to studying how one can function the Soyuz spacecraft.
