SpaceX is set to launch its Crew Dragon spacecraft on February 27, 2023, carrying four NASA astronauts and two international crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). This mission, known as Crew-6, will be the sixth operational flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and the 25th crewed mission to the ISS.
The Crew-6 astronauts will spend approximately six months on board the ISS, conducting research and performing maintenance tasks. They will also participate in a series of spacewalks to install new solar arrays and upgrade the station’s power systems. This mission marks the first time that a Crew Dragon spacecraft will dock at the ISS’s newly installed international docking adapter on the Harmony module.
The four NASA astronauts on board the spacecraft are Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer. The two international crew members are Samantha Cristoforetti from the European Space Agency and Soichi Noguchi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft will launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This launch marks the third crewed mission to be launched from the United States since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.
SpaceX has been working closely with NASA since 2014 as part of the Commercial Crew Program to develop a new generation of spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to and from the ISS. The successful completion of the Crew-6 mission will further demonstrate the reliability and capabilities of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket, paving the way for future crewed missions to the ISS and beyond.
