NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 was launched into space on March 2, 2023, at 5:34 UTC (11:04 am IST), for a long-duration mission on the International Space Station (ISS). Crew-6 includes NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren "Woody Hoburg", United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. They were launched to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39-A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
AlNeyadi is the first Arab astronaut to be launched to space for a long duration mission on the orbital laboratory.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft aboard which Crew-6 was launched is called Endeavour. This is the Dragon spacecraft which previously flew NASA's Crew-1, Inspiration4 and Axiom Mission-1 astronauts.
Overview of Crew-6 mission
Endeavour will accelerate Crew-6 to a speed of approximately 28,164 kilometres per hour, and put the crew on an intercept course with the space station.
Once the four crew members reach orbit, they will monitor a series of automatic manoeuvres, along with SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, California. This will guide Endeavour to the space-facing port of the orbital outpost's Harmony module.
Endeavour will perform several manoeuvres to gradually raise its orbit, and reach the position to rendezvous and dock with its new home in orbit. While Endeavour is designed to dock automatically, the crew can take control and pilot manually, if necessary.
The seven-member crew of Expedition 69 will welcome Crew-6 after Endeavour is docked. Several days after the arrival of Crew-6 on the space station, the astronauts of NASA's SpaceX Crew-5 will undock from the orbital laboratory and splash down off the coast of Florida.
Crew-6 will also see the arrival of cargo spacecraft, including the SpaceX Dragon and Roscosmos Progress. The crew members are also expected to welcome NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts and the Axiom Mission-2 crew during their stay on the space station.
After the mission concludes, Endeavour will autonomously undock from the space station with the four crew members aboard, depart the orbital laboratory, and re-enter Earth's atmosphere. They will splash down off the coast of Florida, following which a SpaceX recovery vessel will pick them up, and helicopter them back to shore.
Crew-6 is SpaceX's sixth crew rotation mission to the orbital outpost, and the seventh flight of Crew Dragon with people as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. In December 2021, Bowen and Hoburg were assigned to the Crew-6 mission, following which they started working and training for their flight on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft and their stay aboard the orbital laboratory.
In July 2022, Fedyaev and AlNeyadi were added as the third and fourth crew members for Crew-6.
The four crew members will perform science and technology demonstrations, and maintenance activities during their stay on the space station.
Scientific research to be performed by Crew-6
Crew-6 will conduct several interesting scientific experiments and research such as studies of how particular materials burn in microgravity, tissue chip research on heart, brain and cartilage functions, and an investigation that will collect microbial samples from the outside of the space station. These experiments will help astronauts prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and benefit life on Earth.
Crew-6 will perform more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations during their six-month mission.