Four members of the SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 mission on March 1, 2023
Chandan Khana, AFP via Getty Images
Four astronauts launched to the International Space Station (ISS) this morning at 12:34 am EST. The team, Crew-6, flew in the Crew Dragon Endeavor capsule built and operated by Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX. The capsule was placed on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, also manufactured by SpaceX. Crew members replace astronauts leaving the ISS.
The crew, which reached orbit around Earth earlier today after launching from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is scheduled to arrive at the ISS early tomorrow morning EST and will spend the next six months trying to figure out what 100 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations.
One question the crew will explore is how factors such as air currents and radiation affect the flammability of materials in space. This could improve the safety of future space missions. Other experiments explore ways to monitor and improve the immunity and heart health of space travelers.
The crew will also measure the extent to which microbes are released from the space station and the distance traveled, providing a means to limit contamination during future space missions.
Commanding the crew is NASA’s Stephen Bowen, second from the right in the photo above. Bowen has visited the ISS three times so far and has been in charge of all phases of flight from launch to re-entry.
Far right is Sultan Al Neyadi, the first astronaut to fly on a commercial spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates. Al Neyadi trained at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center in the United Arab Emirates.
Warren Horberg, who stands second from the left, also made his space flight debut. Horberg was trained as a pilot and previously studied spacecraft engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They will be joined by a fourth crew member, Andrei Fejaev, a Russian cosmonaut who monitors the spacecraft during the launch and reentry phases of its flight.
All four wear lightweight, custom-made spacesuits with flame-retardant outer layers and touchscreen-compatible gloves to protect against potential decompression caused by leaks from the spacecraft. .
NASA and SpaceX said: “Spacesuits also route communications and cooling systems to astronauts during flight.”
Today’s successful launch comes after an earlier attempt was aborted on February 27 due to a sensor issue linked to the rocket engine.
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