Author Topic: SpaceX F9 / Crew Dragon : Crew-4 : KSC LC-39A : 27 April 2022 (07:52 UTC)  (Read 188042 times)

Offline Jansen

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/kennedy/2021/06/14/nasa-spacex-update-crew-launch-and-return-dates/
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NASA, SpaceX Update Crew Launch and Return Dates

Danielle Sempsrott
Posted on June 14, 2021

NASA and SpaceX have adjusted target launch and return dates for upcoming crew missions to and from the International Space Station based on visiting vehicle traffic.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission now is targeting launch no earlier than Sunday, Oct. 31, with NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer. Crew-3 will launch on a new Crew Dragon spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin a six-month science mission at the space station.

Crew-3 astronauts will arrive at the space station for a short handover period with the Crew-2 astronauts and other crew members on Expedition 66. Crew-2 NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Aki Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet are targeting early-to-mid November for a return to Earth inside Crew Dragon Endeavour off the coast of Florida.

Following Crew-3, the next crew rotation mission is targeted for no earlier than mid-April 2022 with the partner spacecraft and launch vehicle to be determined at a later date.

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is working with industry through a public-private partnership to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station, which will allow for additional research time and will increase the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity’s testbed for exploration. The space station remains the springboard to space exploration, including future missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars.
« Last Edit: 06/14/2021 06:33 pm by Jansen »

Offline StraumliBlight

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Offline Oersted

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Cristoforetti's book is a really good read, btw:
https://www.bookdepository.com/Diary-of-an-Apprentice-Astronaut-Samantha-Cristoforetti/9780241371381

She felt much more at home in Russia than many of the other astronauts, due to her excellent command of the language, having studied in Russia before becoming an astronaut.
« Last Edit: 07/28/2021 04:00 am by gongora »

Offline enzo

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I met Lindgren a while back and asked if he would feel comfortable flying on Starship one day. He said (paraphrasing), well I'm a backup for Crew Dragon Demo, so I have no problem flying new hardware! Fortunately for him, Dragon is now getting pretty mature, but I don't doubt he would volunteer for Starship when the time comes.

Offline SMS

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Offline hektor

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So they drop the Gregory Manchess / Dragon designs of Crew-1 to 3.

It is unexpected for me since Kjell Lindgren is the person that got Gregory Manchess working on all these patches in the first place.
« Last Edit: 08/15/2021 05:34 pm by hektor »



Offline hektor

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-DaviD-

Offline Rondaz

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A date has been set @AstroSamantha will be launched to the @Space_Station no earlier than 15 April 2022 as a member of
@Commercial_Crew #Crew4

https://twitter.com/esaspaceflight/status/1435529092766568448

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Cross-post:
https://blogs.esa.int/exploration/crew-3-target-30-october-launch/
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<snip>
Crew-4 will be commanded by NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren with fellow NASA astronaut Bob Hines as pilot. ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will be a mission specialist and command the ISS Expedition 68 crew, while the remaining crew member has yet to be named. Crew-3 astronauts are set to return to Earth in late April 2022 following a similar handover with Crew-4.
Following Crew-4, the next US Commercial Crew flights are targeting September 2022 and March 2023 with the specific commercial partner to be determined.
Support your local planetarium! (COVID-panic and forward: Now more than ever.) My current avatar is saying "i wants to go uppies!" Yes, there are God-given rights. Do you wish to gainsay the Declaration of Independence?

Offline StraumliBlight

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https://twitter.com/Free_Space/status/1445802476943200257

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Yea! @StephenClark1 finally gets answer on expansion of @spacex crew dragon fleet: another new spacecraft will debut on Crew-4 next spring. Also another new Cargo Dragon on tap too.

Offline Rondaz

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NASA, SpaceX Update Upcoming Commercial Crew Flights

Danielle Sempsrott Posted on October 7, 2021

NASA and SpaceX leadership provided an update Oct. 6 as part of the agency’s Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station – the third crew rotation flight that will carry an international crew of four astronauts on a science expedition to the microgravity laboratory as part of the Commercial Crew Program.

NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer will launch aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft launching on a Falcon 9 rocket on its way to the space station. The mission is scheduled to lift off Saturday, Oct. 30, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew-3 mission will fly a new Crew Dragon spacecraft, and will be the first mission to fly a previously used nosecone.

Crew-3 astronauts also will provide an update on their upcoming mission at 2 p.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 7, on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website, from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas prior to going into standard preflight quarantine ahead final launch preparations.

Launch on Oct. 30 would have Crew-3 arriving at the space station early the next day after an approximate 22-hour journey for a short overlap with the astronauts who flew to the station as part of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission.

Prior to launch, NASA and SpaceX will complete a final dress rehearsal for the mission, and continue reviewing data as a part of the standard mission reviews. In support of Crew-3, SpaceX implemented several improvements to the Crew Dragon system based on knowledge gained from previous flights, including making a software change to build in more communications robustness against radiation effects while docked, adding more cleaning techniques to cut down on foreign object debris, improving computer performance during re-entry, and enhancing the spacecraft’s docking procedures and mechanisms to mitigate hardware interference on the International Space Station side of the interface.

NASA and SpaceX also have been working to conduct joint inspections of the waste management system on the Crew-2 spacecraft at the space station following an observation during a non-NASA mission. Based on the inspections, teams will limit the use of the waste system during the return flight of Crew-2. Earlier this year, the Dragon spacecraft supporting the Crew-2 mission completed a short port relocation flight around the International Space Station, and all systems on the spacecraft performed normally during its undocking and re-docking maneuver. SpaceX will implement a small design improvement on the new Dragon spacecraft supporting the Crew-3 mission and all future spacecraft to make the system even more robust.

Through data sharing with SpaceX, NASA also has gained additional insight into higher-altitude flights of Crew Dragon, the performance of the thermal protection system, and more data on micrometeoroid environment of space helping to improve modeling. In addition, NASA learned more about the environmental control and life support system on an extended in-orbit mission with crew continuously on board, including the system’s carbon dioxide scrubber. On all missions, including cargo flights, SpaceX continues to recover and examine parachutes for continued analysis by NASA, ultimately driving up the safety of all missions.

After Crew-3 arrival to the space station, return of the Crew-2 mission with NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, is planned for early November. This Friday, the Crew-2 spacecraft is targeted to break the record set by Crew Dragon Resilience as it passes 168 days in orbit.

Missions teams continue to target April 15, 2022, for the launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the space station for a six-month science mission aboard the microgravity laboratory.

Crew-4 will be commanded by Kjell Lindgren with Bob Hines as pilot, both NASA astronauts. ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will be a mission specialist and command the station’s Expedition 68 crew, while the remaining crew member has yet to be named. Crew-3 astronauts are set to return to Earth in late April 2022 following a similar handover with Crew-4.

NASA also announced it has reassigned astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada to the agency’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station. NASA decided it was important to make these reassignments to allow Boeing time to complete the development of Starliner while continuing plans for astronauts to gain spaceflight experience for the future needs of the agency’s missions.

NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps remains assigned to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 for a long-duration science mission aboard the International Space Station. It is important for Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada and Jeanette Epps to gain their first spaceflight experience, and Epps currently is cross training with the team on the Crew Dragon system. There are many factors in play before any crew assignment is ready, including discussions with our international partners and Multilateral Crew Operations Panel approval. All three crew members have ample time to train on commercial crew systems and become fully prepared for their missions to the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Mike Fincke, and Suni Williams will continue to provide experience for Boeing as the agency prepares for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test and Starliner-1 missions. Additional Boeing flight assignments will be made in the future.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2021/10/07/nasa-spacex-update-upcoming-commercial-crew-flights/

Online Comga

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(snip)
Crew-4 will be commanded by Kjell Lindgren with Bob Hines as pilot, both NASA astronauts. ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will be a mission specialist and command the station’s Expedition 68 crew, while the remaining crew member has yet to be named.
(snip)
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2021/10/07/nasa-spacex-update-upcoming-commercial-crew-flights/

Earlier this week, "Rogozin says Crew Dragon safe for Russian cosmonauts".
Cosmonauts appear to be back in the running for that fourth seat.
What kind of wastrels would dump a perfectly good booster in the ocean after just one use?

Offline AstroWare

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(snip)
Crew-4 will be commanded by Kjell Lindgren with Bob Hines as pilot, both NASA astronauts. ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will be a mission specialist and command the station’s Expedition 68 crew, while the remaining crew member has yet to be named.
(snip)
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2021/10/07/nasa-spacex-update-upcoming-commercial-crew-flights/

Earlier this week, "Rogozin says Crew Dragon safe for Russian cosmonauts".
Cosmonauts appear to be back in the running for that fourth seat.
From the Crew-3 administrators briefing earlier today (10/29/21) Kathy (I think) seemed to indicate that they time needed for training and suit manufacturing would likely mean that Crew-5 was the likely target for cosmonauts on Dragon.

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Offline DwightM

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(snip)
Crew-4 will be commanded by Kjell Lindgren with Bob Hines as pilot, both NASA astronauts. ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will be a mission specialist and command the station’s Expedition 68 crew, while the remaining crew member has yet to be named.
(snip)
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2021/10/07/nasa-spacex-update-upcoming-commercial-crew-flights/

Earlier this week, "Rogozin says Crew Dragon safe for Russian cosmonauts".
Cosmonauts appear to be back in the running for that fourth seat.
From the Crew-3 administrators briefing earlier today (10/29/21) Kathy (I think) seemed to indicate that they time needed for training and suit manufacturing would likely mean that Crew-5 was the likely target for cosmonauts on Dragon.

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Steve Stich was definitive in saying the first opportunity is Crew-5, that MS-21 will have 3 RSA cosmonauts, and that the 4th crew member would be named when the time is right.

It seems that Jessica Watkins will be the 4th crew member for Crew-4, she did the water emergency splashdown training at the NBL with them
pic from Samantha Cristoforetti's Flickr
*Commercial Crew Program Crew-4 astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, Samantha Cristoforetti and Jessica Watkins in USCV Water Survival training. Photo Date: 25 August, 2021. Location: Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) - Pool Topside, NASA Johnson Space Centre. Credit: NASA-R.Markowitz*
https://www.flickr.com/photos/astrosamantha/51465410819/in/dateposted/

Offline Conexion Espacial

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NASA has selected astronaut Jessica Watkins to be part of SpaceX's Crew-4 mission crew, Jessica Watkins joins NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Robert Hines and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti to be part of the CREW-4 mission.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-assigns-astronaut-jessica-watkins-to-nasa-s-spacex-crew-4-mission
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NASA has assigned astronaut Jessica Watkins to serve as a mission specialist on the agency’s upcoming SpaceX Crew-4 mission, the fourth crew rotation flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.


This will be Watkins’ first trip to space following her selection as an astronaut in 2017. Watkins joins NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Robert Hines, as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, as a crew member for the Crew-4 mission.


NASA previously announced the assignments of Lindgren and Hines as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, in February, and ESA announced Cristoforetti as a mission specialist for the mission in May.


Crew-4 is scheduled to launch in April 2022 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a six-month science mission aboard the microgravity laboratory.
I publish information in Spanish about space and rockets.
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