Crew-11 astronauts, cosmonaut arrive in Florida forward of launch to the area station – Spaceflight Now

The subsequent 4 souls who will fly to the International Space Station touched down in Florida on a sweltering and humid Saturday afternoon.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, was first off the NASA Gulfstream jet, adopted by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), NASA astronaut Mike Fincke and NASA astronaut Zena Cardman. The SpaceX Crew-11 mission is led by Cardman who might be making her first journey to the ISS.

“Landing here at the Shuttle Landing Facility, for me personally as a first time flier, this is the first moment that it’s really starting to feel real,” Cardman mentioned. “This is the beginning of a week when things feel progressively more real as we approach our launch, currently slated for the 31st.”

A day earlier than the crew arrived, SpaceX, NASA and its worldwide companions held a multi-hour flight readiness evaluation assembly and polled ‘go’ to proceed in the direction of the flight from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Thursday. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:09 p.m. EDT (1609 UTC).

The Falcon 9 rocket will roll out to the pad over the weekend forward of a launch day rehearsal on Monday, which can also be known as a dry gown. That might be adopted hours later by a brief, static burn of the rocket’s 9 Merlin engines to confirm that the rocket is in good well being.

The quartet who make up the SpaceX Crew-11 mission proceed the custom of mixing intensive spaceflight expertise with first-time fliers. Platonov, one of many mission specialists, can also be a first-time flier, whereas Fincke and Yui are flying to area for a fourth and second time respectively.

“I’ve been on different crews before, but this one is exceptional,” mentioned Fincke, the pilot for Crew-11. “I’m personally looking forward to going back up to the space station. I helped build it and now, I’m getting to see it in its full maturity with six other crewmates.”

Both Fincke and Yui had been beforehand coaching to fly as members of the Starliner-1 mission, the primary operational flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. Fincke initially skilled because the pilot for the Starliner Crew Flight Test earlier than ultimately shifting to turn out to be the deliberate pilot of Starliner-1.

Yui would’ve flown as a mission specialist on Starliner-1, however was by no means formally introduced by both NASA or JAXA. But with delays to that aspect of the Commercial Crew Program, NASA and JAXA opted to place the duo on the Crew-11 flight as an alternative.

Since NASA is hoping that Starliner will conduct its subsequent flight in early 2026, most probably in an uncrewed configuration, Fincke mentioned he’s optimistic that he may even see the capsule dock with the ISS whereas they’re onboard. He has been concerned with the CCP since its inception in 2014.

“It’s really a privilege and honor to know so many different spacecraft and I’m very proud of our American industry partners for building some really fine, space-flying machines,” Fincke mentioned. “I’m really excited about Dragon Endeavour. Who could imagine we were going to fly them six times or even more?”

Yui may have the uncommon alternative to satisfy a fellow JAXA astronaut on orbit as soon as Endeavour docks to the ISS. Takuya Onishi flew to the orbiting outpost as a part of the Crew-10 mission and was additionally a part of Yui’s astronaut class, which was chosen in 2009.

“Onishi-san, he’s my best friend. It’s a very rare opportunity to see my friends in orbit,” Yui mentioned. “And of course, I just want to do a lot of interesting experiments on orbit. I also just want to work with other people, not only in Japan, but all over the world and I’m looking forward to a lot of fruitful results.”

Once Crew-11 docks with the International Space Station, they may conduct a quick handover interval with Crew-10 earlier than the latter departs to return to Earth. Crew-11 is scheduled to carry out a six-month mission onboard the ISS, however that may very well be prolonged out to eight months to match adjustments underway on Roscosmos’ flight schedule with its Soyuz spacecraft.

A ultimate choice on the size of Crew-11 might be made a few month after they dock. They might be onboard when the station marks its twenty fifth yr of steady crew exercise, which is developing within the Fall.

“We have the privilege of flying with people that have flown before and seen the International Space Station growing from its very beginning,” Cardman mentioned. “It will be our honor to join Expedition 73 onboard the International Space Station and to be there for the 25 anniversary of the ISS. It’s so special to take part in something as grand as this human spaceflight endeavor.”