For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA and SpaceX announced they are targeting no earlier than (NET) April 20 for liftoff of the Crew-2 mission on the second commercial crew rotation mission from the United States to the International Space Station (ISS).
The 4 person Crew-2 mission will launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the ISS.
The multinational crew includes two NASA astronauts as well as two from international partners as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
The all veteran crew comprises NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur serving as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively in addition to Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet as mission specialists.
Launch Alert 🚀 @NASA and @SpaceX are targeting no earlier than April 20 for the launch of the second crew rotation mission with astronauts to the @Space_Station.
The Crew-2 mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at @NASAKennedy. Learn more: https://t.co/FQNfer4xsV pic.twitter.com/V8KNX8ag4h
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) January 29, 2021
The Crew -2 astronauts are scheduled for a roughly 6 month ”long-duration stay aboard the orbiting laboratory, living and working as part of what is expected to be a seven-member crew,” says NASA.
Until recently Crew-2 was expected to launch in late March.
But NASA has now decided to target the launch of the second uncrewed Boeing Starliner Orbital Test Flight-2 mission to NET March 25 and thus delay Crew-2 into late April.
Crew-2 will remain aboard until fall 2021 and overlap with SpaceX Crew-3 launching in Fall 2021. Read our Crew-3 story.
Crew-2 will arrive at the ISS for an overlap of at least a few days with the four person SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts currently aboard as part of Expedition 64.
Crew-1 comprises NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, along with JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi.
They are currently scheduled for return to Earth late April or early May.
Watch Ken’s continuing reports about Artemis and NASA missions, SpaceX, Starlink, Commercial Crew and Starliner and Crew Dragon and onsite for live reporting of upcoming and recent SpaceX and ULA launches including Crew 1 & 2, Demo-2, ISS, X-37B, Solar Orbiter, Mars 2020 Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, NRO spysats and national security missions and more at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.
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