A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in its Crew-6 or SpaceX Crew-6 mission. After almost exactly twelve minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and went en route to carry out its mission. This is the 6th crewed mission of the Crew Dragon spacecraft within the normal rotation of the International Space Station crew. This is also the fourth mission for the Endeavour.
The four new members of the International Space Station crew, who are added to the Expedition 68 crew, are:
Stephen Gerard “Steve” Bowen. Born on February 13, 1964, in Cohasset, Massachusetts, USA, he received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1986 and a Master of Science in ocean engineering from MIT in 1993. After some years of service in the US Navy, he was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 2000. He’s on his fourth space mission after the STS-126 on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2008, the STS-132 on the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2010, and the STS-133 on the Space Shuttle Discovery.
Warren Hoburg. Born on September 26, 1985, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, he received a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 2008 and then received a Master’s degree in 2011 and a Ph.D. in 2013 from the University of California at Berkeley. He worked in the private sector before being selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 2017. He’s on his first space mission.
Sultan Alneyadi. Born on May 23, 1981, in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, after finishing high school he enlisted in the national armed forces. He received a BSc (Hons) in Electronics and Communications Engineering in 2004 from the British University of Brighton and then a Master’s in Information and Networks Security from Griffith University, Australia, in 2008, and a Ph.D. in Data Leakage Prevention Technology in the same university. He’s on his first space mission.
Andrey Valerievich Fediaev. Born on February 26, 1981, in Serov, in the then USSR and today in Russia, he graduated as a pilot engineer specializing in Air Transport and Air Traffic Control in the field of Anti-Submarine Aviation at the Balashov Military Aviation School. He enlisted in the Russian Air Force, where he rose to the rank of major before retiring. In 2012 he was selected as a cosmonaut candidate. He’s on his first space mission.
On Friday, at around 6.17 UTC, the Crew Dragon Endeavour will reach the International Space Station and will dock directly with the Harmony module. Despite the problems between the USA and Russia, a cosmonaut is traveling on the Crew Dragon, and that’s good.
