NASA shifts Crew 7 astronaut launch to late August
NASA is targeting Aug. 25 to launch an American, Danish, Japanese and Russian crew to the International Space Station on the SpaceX Dragon Endurance.
SpaceX launches four astronauts to ISS in first crewed mission of 2023
Crew-6 is on their way to the International Space Station. Everything went as planned early Thursday morning for four astronauts finally starting their 6-month mission in space. Fox News Correspondent Phil Keating has the latest.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.-- Four astronauts will spend a little more time on Earth before launching with SpaceX to the International Space Station after NASA opted to push the target launch date because of the busy schedule on the ISS.
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov are scheduled to launch on the Crew 7 mission on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft from NASA's Kennedy Space Center launchpad 39A in Florida. NASA and SpaceX are now targeting the launch for 3:49 a.m. on August 25.
NASA and SpaceX were previously shooting for Aug. 15.
The crew members who comprise the SpaceX Crew-7. From left to right are mission specialist Konstantin Borisov, pilot Andreas Mogensen, commander Jasmin Moghbeli and mission specialist Satoshi Furukawa.
(SpaceX / FOX Weather)
NASA said in a blog post the new target launch date is in coordination with upcoming traffic to the International Space Station.
More spacecraft than room on the ISS
Spacecraft docked at the International Space Station as of Aug. 1, 2023. Four spaceships are docked at the space station including the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour, the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship, and the Progress 83 and 84 resupply ships. (Image: NASA)
(NASA)
Parking is limited at the space station. Currently, four spacecraft are docked on the station, including SpaceX's Dragon Endeavour, two Russian Progress spacecraft and the Russian Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft. The Soyuz MS-23 arrived in February as a replacement spacecraft for the Soyuz MS-22 that began leaking coolant. In September, the replacement Soyuz will be the ride home for NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin.
After delivering supplies and science, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon departed the space station on June 29.
The Dragon spacecraft named Endurance is one of three spacecraft set to arrive at the ISS in the coming weeks.
Northrop Grumman is scheduled to launch 8,200 pounds of supplies to the ISS on Tuesday night from Virginia. If the launch goes on time, the Cygnus spacecraft will arrive at the space station on Friday. The Russian space agency Roscosmos is also sending supplies on its Progress capsule in a few weeks.
MEET THE MEMBERS OF THE UPCOMING SPACEX CREW-7 MISSION
Dragon Endurance and the rest of the hardware for launch are in Florida.
This will be the third trip for NASA to the ISS with Endurance. The spacecraft previously launched Crew-3 and Crew-5 astronauts on long-duration missions to the orbiting laboratory.
Unlike the previous six commercial crew missions, SpaceX Crew-7 will be the first launch, with only one NASA astronaut aboard. In June, NASA announced Russia's Borisov was a final addition to the crew. This will be his first spaceflight.