NASA SpaceX Crew-5 Mission Arrives At ISS

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The NASA SpaceX Crew-5 mission docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday evening, beginning a six-month stay for NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina. The mission, which used SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, Endurance, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday. As the name implies, Crew-5 is the fifth crew rotation mission for SpaceX as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

“The International Space Station continues to serve a critical role in helping NASA and our partners understand and maximize the unique attributes of the microgravity environment,” said Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. “I am grateful to the many people who worked to ensure a safe Crew-5 launch despite the recent hurricane so the crew can fulfill their mission to the orbiting laboratory.”

According to NASA, Crew-5 will “conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations” in areas including cardiovascular health, bioprinting and fluid behavior in microgravity. As previously reported by AVweb, SpaceX is currently contracted with NASA for a total of 14 crew transport missions. The company launched its first crewed mission, and the first operational crewed launch by a private company, in November 2020.

Kate O'Connor
Kate O’Connor works as AVweb's Editor-in-Chief. She is a private pilot, certificated aircraft dispatcher, and graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Your country invades Ukraine and you threaten Europe and the world with nuclear weapons….Never mind, come on in to the space station party! Incredible.

  2. The Russians have already put everyone on notice that they are terminating their involvement with the International Space Station and joining the Chinese with their new and more modern private military station now under construction in space. We should have simply said we are taking you up on your withdrawal – immediately!

  3. It’s not clear why, when we are imposing severe sanctions on Russia for the Ukraine invasion, which threatens peace in Europe and in which Putin intimates he could use nuclear weapons, we are hosting a Russian cosmonaut on an ISS crew mission–particularly when Russia has its own means to carry its personnel. Are NASA, the State Department, and the National Security Council talking to one another?

    • I’m just glad Elon Musk and SpaceX is so successful. Our leader can’t form a sentence. How are we going to resolve the space issue.

  4. The Russian and US segments of the ISS cannot just be split or shut-out. It doesn’t work like that.
    But the limp response is a consequence of weak leadership and poor decisions by the US regarding it’s space policy for a long time.

  5. Last time I looked Russia and the United States were separated by a narrow body of water, not much wider than that which separates Crimea from Russia. One reason why the states should be concerned when Russia invades its neighbours — or does Alaska not count?

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