Endeavor to Return to Space

NASA, during a 21 February 2023 media teleconference, provided an update to its upcoming SpaceX Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Subject mission is slated to lift-off from the famed Launch Complex 39A at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Monday, 27 February 2023 at 01:45 EST.

The space agency disclosed that managers from NASA, SpaceX, and international ISS partners had met throughout the day as part of the Crew-6 mission’s Flight Readiness Review (FRR). For purpose ensuring preparations for SpaceX’s sixth crew rotation mission to the ISS are proceeding apace and to plan, the FRR focused on the preparedness of the Space Station and NASA’s international partners to support the flight, and the flight-readiness of the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour, which will carry the Crew-6 personnel to orbit.

The Crew-6 mission will transport NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen (mission commander) and Warren “Woody” Hoburg (pilot), as well as mission specialists Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev to a six-month stint aboard the ISS.

Bowen, who flew Space Shuttle missions STS-126 in 2008, STS-132 in 2010, and STS-133 in 2011, is a spaceflight veteran. Conversely, Hoburg, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev will be making their first journeys off-planet.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed primarily for flights to and from the International Space Station. To date, two variants of Crew Dragon have been developed: Crew Dragon, a vehicle capable of ferrying four crew-members, and Cargo Dragon, an updated iteration of the original Dragon 1 that supplies cargo to the ISS under a NASA Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft consist of a reusable capsule section that returns to Earth via oceanic splashdown, and an expendable trunk module. The vehicle launches atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket booster.

The Endeavor capsule in which Bowen, Hoburg, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev will travel formerly served as the launch-vehicle for SpaceX’s May 2020 Demonstration Mission-2 (Demo-2) to the International Space Station. Demo-2 occasioned the first crewed orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since 2011, and the first ever such flight operated by a commercial provider. What’s more, Demo-2 was the first two-person orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since 1982’s STS-4—the final test flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Demo-2 completed the validation of crewed spaceflight operations utilizing SpaceX hardware, and secured human-rating certification for the Crew Dragon spacecraft—including astronaut testing of its capabilities in orbit.

FMI: www.nasa.gov