NASA and SpaceX successfully launched the eighth manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from Florida on Sunday. The launch, which was delayed twice due to strong winds, took place at 10:53 p.m. local time from the Kennedy Space Center.
The mission, called Crew-8, consists of three American astronauts – Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps – and one Russian cosmonaut, Alexander Grebenkin. This marks the ninth human spaceflight mission on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Since the retirement of the space shuttle program in 2011, NASA has been reliant on Russian launch systems. The Commercial Crew Program aims to provide safe and cost-effective transportation to and from the ISS using American private industry partnerships.
The astronauts are expected to arrive at the ISS on Monday and will conduct research on various space phenomena to benefit life on and off Earth. They will investigate neurological disorders, plant growth in microgravity, and the role of algae in spacecraft life support systems.
The current ISS crew, Expedition 70, will welcome the Crew-8 members and conduct a handover before the new crew begins their six-month stay aboard the space station. The Crew-7 members currently aboard the ISS will return to Earth in the Dragon spacecraft Endurance after a six-and-a-half month mission.
The successful launch of Crew-8 builds on the historic Demo-2 mission in 2020, which saw astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley travel to the ISS from the United States for the first time in nine years. The crew is set to return to Earth in the Dragon spacecraft, landing off the coast of Florida at the end of their mission.