Crew-6 to launch to ISS Monday


Photographers in foreground, 4 astronauts in background, on a tarmac.
A crush of photographers greeted the 4 Crew-6 team members (in front of the airplane) on February 21, 2023, for the traditional “walkout” prior to their February 27 launch. Image via Greg Diesel Walck.

Crew-6 to launch this Monday

Crew-6 – consisting of four crew members – is already at Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week. They’re preparing to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) – riding aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, powered by a Falcon 9 rocket – on Monday, February 27, 2023.

It’ll be NASA’s 6th mission to ISS using a SpaceX Dragon.

You can watch the launch – currently set for 6:45 UTC (1:45 a.m. EST) on February 27 – via the livestream at this link or in the video player below.

ISS arrival the next day

Following launch, Dragon should arrive at ISS on Tuesday, February 28. It then takes a couple of hours before docking is complete, and the crew can join the team already aboard ISS.

The crew of four plans to stay at the ISS for approximately seven months.

The last Crew mission, Crew-5, successfully carried four astronauts to the ISS in October 2022.

Crew-6: Four men in blue flight suits stand by a sign with their names with a NASA plane in the background.
The 4 members of Crew-6 on February 21, 2023. They’ll launch to ISS this Sunday from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image via Greg Diesel Walck.

Space station woes

So crew transport is progressing. But ISS itself has had its share of woes over the past months. First a Soyuz spacecraft, after safely delivering three astronauts to ISS in September, started leaking coolant while docked with the space station. Then a Progress supply craft docked at the ISS began leaking coolant in February. It’s possible that micrometeoroids – tiny bits of rock or other material in space, crashing into ISS – are to blame.

Bottom line: Crew-6 will launch to the International Space Station on February 27, 2023. The four crew members arrived at Kennedy Space Center on February 21.

The post Crew-6 to launch to ISS Monday first appeared on EarthSky.



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Photographers in foreground, 4 astronauts in background, on a tarmac.
A crush of photographers greeted the 4 Crew-6 team members (in front of the airplane) on February 21, 2023, for the traditional “walkout” prior to their February 27 launch. Image via Greg Diesel Walck.

Crew-6 to launch this Monday

Crew-6 – consisting of four crew members – is already at Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week. They’re preparing to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) – riding aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, powered by a Falcon 9 rocket – on Monday, February 27, 2023.

It’ll be NASA’s 6th mission to ISS using a SpaceX Dragon.

You can watch the launch – currently set for 6:45 UTC (1:45 a.m. EST) on February 27 – via the livestream at this link or in the video player below.

ISS arrival the next day

Following launch, Dragon should arrive at ISS on Tuesday, February 28. It then takes a couple of hours before docking is complete, and the crew can join the team already aboard ISS.

The crew of four plans to stay at the ISS for approximately seven months.

The last Crew mission, Crew-5, successfully carried four astronauts to the ISS in October 2022.

Crew-6: Four men in blue flight suits stand by a sign with their names with a NASA plane in the background.
The 4 members of Crew-6 on February 21, 2023. They’ll launch to ISS this Sunday from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image via Greg Diesel Walck.

Space station woes

So crew transport is progressing. But ISS itself has had its share of woes over the past months. First a Soyuz spacecraft, after safely delivering three astronauts to ISS in September, started leaking coolant while docked with the space station. Then a Progress supply craft docked at the ISS began leaking coolant in February. It’s possible that micrometeoroids – tiny bits of rock or other material in space, crashing into ISS – are to blame.

Bottom line: Crew-6 will launch to the International Space Station on February 27, 2023. The four crew members arrived at Kennedy Space Center on February 21.

The post Crew-6 to launch to ISS Monday first appeared on EarthSky.



from EarthSky https://ift.tt/CSTQ6Ic

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