THIS WEEK @NASA: Space Station’s Next SpaceX Crew Rotation Mission, Change of Command Aboard ISS
By Space Coast Daily // October 10, 2021
latest happenings around NASA
ABOVE VIDEO: A change of command aboard the space station, getting curious for World Space Week, and expanding commercial opportunities in space … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!
Change of Command Aboard the Space Station
On Oct. 4 aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 65 Commander Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency officially handed over command of the station to European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
Pesquet will command the station until he departs aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft in mid-to-late November with Hoshide and NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough.
Get Curious for World Space Week
“Get Curious with Vice President Harris” is a YouTube Originals video released on Oct. 7 to kick off World Space Week. It follows a group of kids as they meet the Vice President and go on a scavenger hunt with clues delivered by our Shane Kimbrough from the International Space Station. The Vice President is the chair of the National Space Council.
Expanding Commercial Space Opportunities
On Oct. 5, Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, Russian actress Yulia Peresild and producer Klim Shipenko launched to the space station from Kazakhstan. Several hours later, the Expedition 65 crew welcomed the trio aboard the orbiting outpost. The actress and producer are filming scenes aboard the station for a movie as part of a commercial agreement that marks the expansion of commercial space opportunities to include feature filmmaking.
Space Station’s Next SpaceX Crew Rotation Mission
We previewed NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission during a pair of virtual briefings Oct. 6 and 7. Crew-3 is the next crew rotation flight of a U.S. commercial spacecraft with astronauts to the International Space Station.
NASA’s Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron along with European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer are targeted for launch to the station Oct. 30 from our Kennedy Space Center. Meanwhile, NASA has reassigned astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada to our SpaceX Crew-5 mission, expected to launch to the space station no earlier than fall 2022. Mann and Cassada previously were assigned to missions on NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test and NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 mission, respectively.
Build Your Own Lucy Time Capsule
The team for our Lucy mission invites you to create your very own time capsule for the mission and share it online using the hashtag #LucyTimeCapsule. The plan is to revisit your time capsule at future mission milestones, for personal reflection and/or to maybe add new items. The Lucy spacecraft will carry a time capsule that includes a plaque inscribed with words of wisdom on its 12-year odyssey to several asteroids, including the never-before-explored Trojan asteroids that share an orbit with Jupiter. Lucy is targeted for launch no earlier than Oct. 16.
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage: El Ayer y El Mañana
On Oct. 7, award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien hosted “El Ayer y El Mañana,” which translates to “Yesterday and Tomorrow” in English. The NASA Hispanic Heritage month event featured a conversation about the new National Museum of the American Latino, NASA’s impact and influence, and the pioneering spirit of Latinos on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
The 10th International Space Apps Challenge
On Oct. 2-3, NASA collaborated with several space agency partners for the 10th International Space Apps Challenge, which was entirely virtual. Each year the event, which is recognized as the largest annual hackathon in the world, engages thousands of people around the globe to work with the agency’s open source data to answer some of the most pressing challenges on Earth and in space. Space Apps is managed by NASA’s Earth Science Division.
That’s what’s up this week @NASA
