What is Crew-11? SpaceX astronauts put together for house station mission

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The Crew-11 mission is because of launch no sooner than Thursday, July 31 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

• The arrival of the astronauts chosen for the Crew-11 mission on the house station will pave the way in which for the Crew-10 predecessors to depart.
• Crew-10 arrived on the ISS in mid-March in a headline-grabbing mission that allowed for the long-awaited departure of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who crewed the Boeing Starliner house capsule.
• The mission is the newest in a sequence of joint ventures between NASA and SpaceX to ship astronauts to the outpost, the place they spend months conducting scientific analysis.

The subsequent group of astronauts might be heading to house in per week, the place they may relieve a gaggle of spacefarers on the International Space Station who performed a important function in bringing the Boeing Starliner saga to an finish.

The mission, often known as Crew-11, is the newest in a sequence of joint ventures between NASA and SpaceX to ship astronauts to the outpost, the place they spend months at a time conducting scientific analysis solely attainable in orbit. The four-person crew, which incorporates two NASA astronauts, are the primary people to fly to house since a comparatively transient non-public voyage often known as Axiom Mission 4 got here to an finish earlier in July after 20 days.

The arrival of the astronauts chosen for the Crew-11 mission on the house station can even pave the way in which for 4 others to depart. Their Crew-10 predecessors arrived on the ISS in mid-March in a headline-grabbing mission that set the stage for the long-awaited departure of the NASA astronauts − Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams − who crewed the ill-fated Starliner house capsule the 12 months earlier than.

Here’s every part to know in regards to the Crew-11 mission and its impending launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

What is the SpaceX Crew-11 mission?

As the title suggests, Crew-11 is NASA and SpaceX’s eleventh science expedition to the International Space Station.

The missions, most of which final about six months, are contracted below NASA’s commercial crew program. The program permits the U.S. house company to pay SpaceX to launch and transport astronauts and cargo to orbit aboard the corporate’s personal automobiles, liberating up NASA to deal with its Artemis lunar program and different spaceflight missions, together with future crewed voyages to Mars.

When was the primary NASA, SpaceX Crew mission? What is the Dragon?

The first of SpaceX’s Crew missions ferrying astronauts to the orbital outpost on its Dragon capsule started in 2020. Standing almost 27 ft tall and about 13 ft vast, Dragon capsules can carry as much as seven astronauts into orbit, although most of SpaceX’s Crew missions function a crew of 4.

The Dragon can be the one U.S. spacecraft able to carrying astronauts to and from the house station.

For that motive, NASA chosen the Dragon to carry dwelling Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the 2 NASA astronauts who rode the Boeing Starliner capsule to the house station in June 2024 for the car’s inaugural human spaceflight take a look at. Certifying the Starliner capsule for operation would finally give NASA a second car along with Dragon for normal human spaceflights to orbit.

Who are the astronauts on the Crew-11 mission?

The Crew-11 mission includes four spacefarers:

• Mission commander Zena Cardman, a NASA astronaut from Virginia making her first spaceflight
• Pilot Mike Fincke, a NASA astronaut from Pennsylvania making his fourth journey to house
• Mission specialist Kimiya Yui, a Japanese astronaut with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut making his second journey to the house station
• Mission specialist Oleg Platonov, a Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut making his first spaceflight

Crew-11 astronauts reassigned after Boeing Starliner failure

In an fascinating twist, Cardman, Fincke and Yui all skilled main spaceflight project modifications as a result of the Boeing Starliner debacle.

Fincke and Yui were both originally selected to fly on the Starliner’s crew rotation mission had the spacecraft’s inaugural human flight take a look at in June 2024 been successful. Fincke was also the backup astronaut on a flight test for which Wilmore and Williams had been finally chosen.

As for Cardman, she would have flown on the Crew-9 mission in September 2024 earlier than she and NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson had been bumped from the mission. Instead of a full contingent, solely NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov traveled to the house station to depart two seats for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight.

The choice was made when NASA opted to undock the troubled Starliner capsule with out its crew, leaving Wilmore and Williams in want of a journey dwelling.

When will NASA, SpaceX launch Crew-11 for ISS?

The Crew-10 mission is due to get off the ground no sooner than 12:09 p.m. ET Thursday, July 31, from close to Cape Canaveral, Florida, in response to NASA.

SpaceX makes use of its Falcon 9 rocket – one of the most active in the world – to launch the crew missions from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Once in orbit, the SpaceX Dragon capsule that the astronauts are aboard then separates from the rocket, utilizing its personal thrusters to proceed onto the house station.

When will the Crew-10 astronauts depart house station, return to Earth?

The arrival of Cardman, Fincke, Yui and Platonov will finally pave the way in which for his or her predecessors, the Crew-10 contingent, to depart the space station and head again to Earth.

NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain arrived March 16 on the station with JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov as a part of the Crew-10 mission. That mission made headlines for its function in paving the way in which for the NASA astronauts who crewed the doomed Boeing Starliner to depart with the Crew-9 mission.

But the Crew-10 astronauts will not go away immediately. What follows upon the arrival of any astronauts is a short handover interval through which the brand new crew members are familiarized with the orbital laboratory and station operations.

McClain, Ayers, Onishi and Peskov will then depart a couple of days afterward the identical Dragon capsule that transported them to the house station. Mission groups can even must evaluate climate circumstances off the coast of California, the place the Dragon will eventually make a water landing.

Who else is on the International Space Station?

Another three spacefarers are additionally dwelling and dealing in regards to the International Space Station as members of Expedition 73.

That consists of NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, who reached the outpost in April 2025 with cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky.

Contributing: Brooke Edwards, Florida Today

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com