ISS - Expedition 63 Mission patch / ISS - Expedition 64 Mission patch.
August 3, 2020
Three humans are orbiting Earth today aboard the International Space Station following the return on Sunday of NASA’s first commercial crew.
Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy and Flight Engineers Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner will stay in space until October. The orbital trio are continuing critical space research benefitting humans on and off the Earth as well as maintaining the orbital lab.
Images above: The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft with astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley onboard splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
Back on Earth, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are adapting to Earth’s gravity following a two-month mission on the station. Representing NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, duo is the first crew to launch to space and splashdown on Earth inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle.
SpaceX has completed its demonstration mission phase and has already booked two operational Crew Dragon missions. Crew-1 is planned for later this year and Crew-2 is targeted for Spring 2021. Both commercial crew missions will launch four astronauts each to the space station to continue microgravity science.
Image above: The members of the SpaceX Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station. Pictured from left are NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet. Image Credit: NASA.
Russia will launch three Expedition 64 crew members to the station one week before the Expedition 63 crew returns to Earth in October. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov will liftoff inside the Soyuz MS-17 crew ship to begin a six-month mission aboard the orbital lab.
Related articles:
NASA Astronauts Safely Splash Down after First Commercial Crew Flight to Space Station
http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/08/nasa-astronauts-safely-splash-down.html
Endeavour Spacecraft Undocked from Station
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/08/endeavour-spacecraft-undocked-from.html
Related links:
Expedition 63: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition63/index.html
Expedition 64: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-assigns-astronaut-kate-rubins-to-expedition-6364-space-station-crew
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html
Dragon Crew-1: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-spacex-invite-media-to-first-operational-commercial-crew-launch
Dragon Crew-2: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-announces-astronauts-to-fly-on-spacex-crew-2-mission-to-space-station
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Image (mentioned), NASA/Mark Garcia.
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