The four astronauts on the Crew-3 mission, consisting of three NASA astronauts, namely Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron and one German astronaut Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency, were launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The astronauts inside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, already in orbit, before docking at the ISS.
“Welcome to orbit,” SpaceX mission control told the crew as they separated from the SpaceX rocket. “Hope you enjoy the ride from (Falcon 9). The Dragon Capsule will take you from here. Travel is safe,” he continued as quoted by theverge.com. (Read also; NASA Postpones Landing Mission to the Moon until 2025 )
After successfully delivering the Crew Dragon capsule that carried the four astronauts into low-Earth orbit, the Falcon 9 satellite then returned to Earth. The landing was made in the Atlantic Ocean using standard SpaceX rocket procedures. (Read also; After 199 Days in Space, 4 NASA Astronauts Arrive Back on Earth )
This is SpaceX’s third operational crew mission for NASA as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Each mission, including Crew-3, is supposed to last about six months, with SpaceX responsible for launching the astronauts as well as bringing them home again. The Crew-3 astronauts are scheduled to return home sometime in the spring of 2022.
The four astronauts from the Crew-3 mission will be greeted by three other astronauts already living on the ISS, namely NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov. Once inside the station, the seven occupants will perform a brief welcome ceremony. Maruer is officially the 600th person to fly into space, while Barron is the 601st.
(Web)
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