After its successful launch into space, towards the International Space Station, the Crew-5 crew had an appointment with the remaining astronauts on Expedition 68 at 21:57 (Lisbon time). The new team will remain in space for six months, until it is surrendered on the next expedition, Crew-6, scheduled for spring..
As usual, the Crew Dragon Endurance capsule was launched into space aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, from Complex 39 of the Kennedy Space Center, at 17:00 (Lisbon time), On a trip with a forecast of about 23 hours. The missile detached from the capsule 12 minutes after launch, and landed on the autonomous boat that was waiting in the Atlantic Ocean. This is the eighth manned mission that SpaceX has operated since receiving credentials to take astronauts into space two and a half years ago.
See photos of NASA’s SpaceX’s Crew-5 mission launch
On board the Crew-5 were NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, Josh Casada and Koichi Wakata from JAXA, and Roscosmos astronaut Anna Kekina.. The entourage of the International Space Station is made up of Mission 68 made up of NASA astronauts Bob Heinz, Kjell Lindgren, Frank Rubio and Jessica Watkins, as well as Roscosmos astronauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dimitri Petlin and Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency. In all, until Crew-4 members return to Earth in the next few days, the International Space Station will be “maximum capacity,” consisting of 11 astronauts.
from the new crew, They are all beginners, with the exception of Koichi Wakata, who has participated in two shuttle missions and two expeditions to the International Space Station, after spending 347 days in space.. Moments after the capsule detached from the rocket, Nicole Mann highlighted the smooth ascent, joking that three newbies were very happy to be in space and a veteran astronaut, equally thrilled to be back.
The launch mission went as planned, but not before the launch opportunities into space were lost. On October 3, the initial release date, three minor issues were discovered after the first few scans. A leak was detected in a fire extinguisher mounted in the capsule, one of the components of one of the nine Merlin engines in the first stage of the rocket was replaced, and there was also a problem with the missile recovery boat.
crew Crew-5 will conduct more than 200 science experiments aboard the International Space Station, as well as conduct technology demonstrations.. Among them is a study of the behavior of artificially printed human organs in space and a better understanding of heart disease.
You can watch the capsule’s arrival at the International Space Station live on .’s YouTube channel NASAwhich has maintained a steady stream since launch. Upon arrival, just two hours later, the capsule’s gates will open, finally allowing the astronauts to rendezvous.
The SpaceX has been very active the past few days, planning two more flights these days, including a new “batch” of Starlink satellites and another Falcon 9 that will launch two communications satellites from Intelsat later today.. For manned missions, SpaceX’s next scheduled mission is another special, The Polaris Dawn, scheduled for March 2023After postponing the expected date to the end of the year. This mission could go down in history with the first civilian spacewalk attempt.
