WATCH LIVE: Crew-2 Astronauts Arrive at Kennedy Space Center Ahead of SpaceX Launch

By  //  April 16, 2021

Launch set for April 22 at 6:11 a.m. ET

ABOVE VIDEO: On Fri., April 16 at 12:45 p.m. EDT (16:45 UTC), four astronauts arrive by plane at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, less than one week before their scheduled April 22 launch aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour to the International Space Station (ISS). Astronauts will join experts from NASA and our partner agencies to discuss the mission.

BREVARD COUNTY • KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA – The four astronauts of the Crew-2 Mission, who are less than one week before their scheduled April 22 launch aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour to the International Space Station (ISS), arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Friday.

Astronauts will join experts from NASA and our partner agencies to discuss the mission.

This is the second crew rotation flight with astronauts on the Crew Dragon spacecraft and the first launch with two international partners as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission will carry NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and  Megan McArthur – who will serve as the mission’s spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively – along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who will serve as mission specialists.

After successfully docking at the space station, the astronauts of Crew-2 will join the Expedition 65 crew aboard the orbital outpost, including the Crew-1 astronauts, who are still aboard. The Crew-1 astronauts are targeted for return in the fall of 2021.

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is working with the American aerospace industry through a public-private partnership to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil.

The goal of the program is to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the space station, which will allow for additional research time and will increase the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity’s testbed for exploration.

The space station remains the springboard to NASA’s next great leap in space exploration, including future missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

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