At 5:49 on April 23, Eastern Time, the SpaceX Manned Dragon spacecraft was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a Falcon 9 rocket to carry out the commercial manned space mission Crew-2. Send four astronauts to the International Space Station for a six-month mission. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the space station at 5:10 on April 24.
This is the third time that SpaceX has used the Crew Dragon spacecraft to send astronauts to the International Space Station. Both the Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon spacecraft that carried out this mission have been recycled and reused. The Dragon spacecraft used for this launch had carried out humanity's first commercial manned space launch mission, Demo-2, in May 2020, sending American astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to and from the International Space Station. The Falcon 9 first stage launched this time carried out the Crew-1 mission in November last year, sending four astronauts to the International Space Station.
The four astronauts participating in this mission were assigned to Crew-2 in July last year and carried out work and training. Crew-2 is also the first time to carry two international astronauts. The four passengers are NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, as well as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, European ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
Shane Kimbrough served as the spacecraft commander for this mission and was responsible for all stages of flight from launch to reentry. In 2004, Shane Kimbrough was selected as a NASA astronaut. In 2008, he flew on the Space Shuttle Endeavor for his first space station mission. In 2016, he flew on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for his first long-term mission. He spent a total of 189 days in space and completed 6 space walks.
Megan MacArthur is the pilot of the Dragon spacecraft and the deputy commander of this mission, responsible for spacecraft systems and performance. MacArthur was selected as an astronaut in 2000, launched on the space shuttle Atlantis in 2009, and participated in the maintenance mission of the Hubble Space Telescope. She spent 12 days and 21 hours in space, operating the shuttle's robotic arm, capturing telescopes, and more. This Crew-2 mission will be MacArthur’s first trip to the International Space Station and will serve as a long-term space station staff member.
Akihiko Hoshide is Crew-2’s mission specialist. He will work closely with the commander and pilots to monitor the spacecraft’s flight during the launch and reentry phases. He joined the Japan National Space Development Agency (now JAXA) in 1992 and was selected as an astronaut candidate in February 1999. Akihiko Hoshide has two space flight experiences. He went to the International Space Station in June 2008 and stayed on the space station for 124 days in 2012.
Thomas Pesquet is also a Crew-2 mission specialist. In May 2009, he was selected as an astronaut candidate by the European Space Agency and served as a communications officer from Mission Control to astronauts during their space flights. Thomas Pesquet spent 196 days in space, completing two space flights, one to replace the battery in the electronic channel, and one to repair a cooling leak and repair the robotic arm.
These four astronauts will carry out scientific research on medical technology, human health and materials on the space station. They will test portable ultrasound equipment, conduct tissue engineering research on bone, cardiovascular, muscle and liver health, and study cotton growth in microgravity to identify better cotton varieties.
The Dragon spacecraft and the astronauts on the Crew-2 mission will leave the space station as early as October 31, return to Earth, and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean. Four days after the Crew-2 mission's Dragon spacecraft docks with the space station, the Dragon spacecraft launched to the space station in November last year will return to Earth.