SpaceX's 5th Crewed Flight, Crew-3, to Launch to ISS on Oct. 30

Isabella James, Tech Times 06 October 2021, 10:10 pm

SpaceX's next crewed flight is getting ready to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 30.

The crewed mission, which is known as Crew-3, will have four astronauts on board. Three astronauts are from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the fourth is from the European Space Agency (ESA).

Scientific experiments will also be on board the flight, which is currently scheduled to launch in the early hours of October 30.

SpaceX's 5th Crewed Flight Readies for Launch

SpaceX's Crew-3 mission, its fifth crewed flight, is preparing for its launch to the ISS on October 30. The mission's initial launch date was set for October 23 but was eventually delayed to October 31 before it was again moved to October 30.

According to a report by Space, the space company's Falcon 9 rocket will be used for the launch, which is currently scheduled to take place at 2:43 a.m. EDT. The Crew-3 mission will launch from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"It's such an exciting time in our International Space Station ecosystem because we're getting ready to further use the space station for another 10 years," said Kathy Leuders, associate administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate.

Astronauts and Scientific Gear On Board

The next @Commercial_Crew mission to the station, @SpaceX Crew-3, is targeting its launch to the station for Oct. 30 at 2:43am ET. More... https://t.co/kbxyoeK9W5 pic.twitter.com/tzdGH1wJrG
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) September 30, 2021

SpaceX's Crew-3 mission will have four passengers. Three of the passengers are NASA astronauts, namely Kayla Barron, Raja Charri, and Tom Marshburn. The fourth passenger is ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer.

NASA has shared portraits of the four astronauts part of the Crew-3 mission on their official website. The four astronauts will be staying in the ISS for six months.

Flying along with the astronauts to the ISS are scientific gear such as human research, rodent research, and other experiments.

"Every time we fly an increment mission, we have about 300 different investigations that we do on board," the manager of NASA's International Space Station program, Joel Montalbano, said in the Space report.

SpaceX's Inspiration4 Mission

The launch of the Crew-3 mission will happen just weeks after the success of SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission. The Inspiration4 mission was launched on September 15 and orbited the Earth for three days before returning back to the surface.

The Inspiration4 mission made history as the first-ever all-civilian crewed flight to space. The mission was an effort to raise $250 million for the St. Jude's Children Research Hospital in Memphis.

Like the Crew-3 mission, the Inspiration4 mission also had four passengers: Jared Isaacman, Haley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski, and Sian Proctor. Arceneaux made history by being the youngest American to fly to space and the first one with prosthetics to do so.

Proctor, who served as the pilot of the mission, made history as the first black female pilot of a spacecraft in history.

Also Read: SpaceX Awards Its Inspiration4 Crew With Their Astronaut Wings

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Written by Isabella James