SpaceX Crew-3 launch is just days away: What to know
Orange County students participate in global education initiative about space
The district participated in a global education initiative that brought the final frontier a little closer to home in an effort to increase student engagement.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Later this week, the SpaceX Crew-3 launch is scheduled to occur.
Liftoff is set for October 31 at 2:21 a.m. EST. Four astronauts will ride a SpaceX Dragon capsule into space and head towards the International Space Station (ISS), where they will spend several months completing a science mission.
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NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron will embark on the mission with ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer. Their roles are outlined below:
- Raja Chari: Mission Commander
- Tom Marshburn: Pilot
- Kayla Barron: Mission Specialist
- Matthias Maurer: Mission Specialist
"Lots of medical experiments. We are testing out medical devices. I am going to be working with a muscle sensor that will help us figure out how muscle atrophy in space but also tech development for this device so that people can have these evaluations done in ICU or when they are out in the field," Marshburn previously said.
SpaceX Crew-3 (Photo from NASA)
"Everyone is more than qualified, and we are actually super happy to just get the chance to go to space," Chari added.
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Already at the ISS are Crew-2 astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Aki Hoshide, and Thomas Pesquet. They are scheduled to return home sometime in November.
Crew-2 comes aboard the International Space Station
The Crew-2 astronauts were welcomed with open arms after arriving at the ISS on Saturday morning.
"They will be a true collection of international astronauts and it will be really fun to see that during the handover," said Kathy Lueders, NASA’s Associate Administrator of Space Operations.
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