The structure of the launch pad has changed significantly compared to the previous ones. But the starting “Pad”, the large reinforced concrete “launch pad” with underground bunkers, is always the same. And it evokes a glorious past. It is the “39 A” of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, from where almost all the Apollo missions were launched, and about half of the 135 of the Space Shuttle. Now, and for some years already, the “39 A” has hosted the Falcon 9 rockets with Space X’s Crew Dragon spacecraft at the top, which since 2020 have ensured the “shuttle service” between the Earth and the Earth’s orbit, for bring astronauts to dock and return to the ISS, the International Space Station. Like that game this morning, at 9.27 (Italian time, 3.27 Florida time), to transfer a new quartet of astronauts to the ISS, destined to remain in orbit for six months.
International mixed crew under the command of Jasmin Moghbeli.
And it is a mixed international quartet, the one that took off under the thrust of the Falcon 9’s 9 completely recoverable liquid fuel “Merlin” engines of the first stage. The commander (or “the” commander) of the Crew Dragon, for this mission “Crew 7” is NASA astronaut Moghbeli, Marine Corps helicopter test pilot, with 150 combat missions under her belt, and mother of 2.5-year-old twin girls. With her are the Japanese Satoshi Furukawa, the Russian Konstantin Borisov, and the Danish of the European Space Agency, Andreas Mogensen, who is part of the ESA group selected in 2009 which also includes Luca Parmitano and Samantha Cristoforetti. Moghbeli and his four traveling companions entered the spacecraft two hours before launch, after being transferred to “39 A” in the usual Tesla minivan. The launch of the Falcon took place regularly and the spacecraft, which is the one dubbed “Endurance” regularly entered an initial orbit about 400 kilometers from the Earth, to begin the hunt and pursuit of the International Space Station. The Russian cosmonaut Borisov was also radiant, both before the launch and in the first minutes in orbit, confirming with his presence the continuity of Russia’s cooperation for the ISS until the end of 2024. With the hope that we can go even further …
Russian Borisov: “I support cooperation”
The (automatic) docking to the ISS will take place at 2 this night (Houston time), after a series of maneuvers managed by Moghbeli and the Danish ESA astronaut: «This is our seventh operational mission to the Space Station, in the “scope of the Commercial Manned Program – said Janet Petro, Director of the Kennedy Space Center – And even though we have a busy schedule of launches, we are always super excited when we are about to launch human crews”. Russia’s Borisov and Moghbeli are both on their first space flight. It is no longer a novelty, since the commercial flight program started, that a Commander in his space debut is at the helm of a Crew Dragon. For American space missions, the first with crews of two astronauts was James McDivitt, on Gemini 4, in 1965, and the first with crews of three was Gerald Carr, on Skylab 4 in 1973. Andreas Mogensen is on his second mission: he performed a short-lived nine-day mission to the ISS in 2015 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, while Japan’s Furukawa has already amassed 167 days aboard the large orbital outpost in 2011. Borisov is the third Russian to fly aboard a SpaceX’s Crew Dragon as part of an agreement between NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, to launch one NASA astronaut aboard each Soyuz flight to the station and one cosmonaut aboard each Crew Dragon at all times directed to the ISS. “That this is a program with a strong international connotation, you are seeing it today with this crew – comments NASA Administrator, Bill Nelson – Of all the crews, this is the most international we have had, and I think it shows the breadth cooperation all over the world“. «I am honored to be part of the most international crew ever – said Konstantin Borisov before the launch – Experienced astronauts and cosmonauts say that when you go to the ISS and look at the planet, you see that there are no borders. And I really want to continue and convey that feeling and that emotion, and also support the cooperation as has been the case so far”.