Tag: Astronauts

Categories
Business

SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts dock with the Worldwide House Station

SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts dock with the International Space Station

SpaceX’s crew Dragon Endeavor docks at the International Space Station on April 24, 2021.

NASA TV

The second operational SpaceX crew mission arrived on the International Space Station early Saturday morning and carried four astronauts for a six-month stay in space.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship ‘Endeavor’, launched the day before with a Falcon 9 rocket, docked at the ISS at 5:22 a.m. EDT. The capsule carries an international squad of astronauts: Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur from NASA, Akihiko Hoshide from JAXA and Thomas Pesquet from ESA.

“Welcome to the ISS, we are very pleased to have you on board,” said NASA astronaut and space station commander, Shannon Walker.

The Crew 2 mission temporarily increases the total number of astronauts on board the revolving research laboratory to 11.

The view from SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship Endeavor of the International Space Station, as well as the company’s Crew Dragon spaceship Resilience, as the capsule approached the dock on April 24, 2021.

NASA TV

Endeavor joins another Crew Dragon spaceship, Resilience, which arrived on the space station in November with astronauts for the Crew 1 mission. SpaceX plans to bring Resilience back to Earth with the four Crew 1 astronauts on Wednesday April 28th.

From left: Mission Specialist Thomas Pesquet from ESA, Pilot Megan McArthur from NASA, Commander Shane Kimbrough from NASA and Mission Specialist Akihiko Hoshide from JAXA.

SpaceX

The Crew 2 mission marks additional innovations for SpaceX, with the company reusing both a rocket and capsule for the mission. Endeavor previously flew the Demo 2 mission and the Falcon 9 rocket booster previously launched the Crew 1 mission. In addition, SpaceX surpassed the total number of astronauts launched under the Mercury program, which began in 1958.

Categories
Health

Astronauts Launching to Area Are Vaccinated In opposition to Covid-19

Astronauts Launching to Space Are Vaccinated Against Covid-19

With no hospitals or medical specialists in space, NASA and other space agencies have always been concerned about astronauts getting sick while on a mission. To minimize the likelihood of this, they usually spend the two weeks prior to launch in quarantine.

A Covid-19 superspreader event on the space station would disrupt operations.

The interior of the space station has a volume equivalent to a Boeing 747 jetliner, so infected crew members have room to isolate themselves. But space station managers certainly don’t want to worry about the spread of the virus in the station’s constantly filtered and recycled air.

During a press conference last week, Shane Kimbrough, the NASA astronaut in command of Crew-2, said that all four astronauts had received Covid vaccinations. “I think it went well,” he said. “We all have slightly different reactions, just like most people. So in that respect we are no different. But we are grateful that we have the vaccines. “

The three astronauts who launched a Soyuz rocket to the station earlier this month – Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov from the Russian space agency and Mark Vande Hei from NASA – were also vaccinated.

The four astronauts on the Crew 1 mission are not, as no vaccines were available when it launched last November. When they return to Earth, everyone who is not on the planet will be vaccinated against Covid-19.