On Aug 26, at 7:27 a.m. UTC, the SpaceX Crew-7 mission lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center aboard the Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
Liftoff of Crew-7! pic.twitter.com/fvMpbvDPjU
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 26, 2023
The mission
The flight is the seventh crew rotation mission with SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program; it is scheduled to dock on August 27 at 8:50 UTC.
After docking, Crew-7 will be welcomed by the seven-member crew of Expedition 69.
After the handover period, Crew-6 members, NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, along with UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev will undock from the station and splash down off the coast of Florida.
The astronauts will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations that include the collection of microbial samples from the exterior of the space station and an investigation of the physiological aspects of astronauts’ sleep.
Crew-7’s first duties will be to welcome the Soyuz MS-24 crew mission in September 2023 and help the Soyuz MS-22/23 crew during the undocking phases planned for September.
The astronauts will see the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon CRS-29 resupply mission and the Roscosmos Progress MS-25 cargo spacecraft.They will also welcome the private Axiom Mission-3 crew and the first cargo flight of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser in 2024.
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The crew:
Jasmin Moghbeli is serving as the spacecraft Commander. Under this position, she will be responsible for all phases of flight, from launch to re-entry.
Crew-7 is her first trip into space after being selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017.
Moghbeli has a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering with information technology and a master of science in aerospace engineering.
She is a helicopter and Marine Corps test pilot, with more than 150 combat missions and 2,000 hours of flight time in over 25 different aircraft.
Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (ESA) is serving as the Pilot and is responsible for spacecraft systems and performance.
Mogensen was selected as a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut in 2009 and became the first Danish citizen in space after he launched aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a 10-day mission to the space station in 2015.
He received a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Imperial College London in the UK and has a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in the United States.
Satoshi Furukawa is the Mission Specialist on his second trip to space; in this position, he is working to monitor the spacecraft during the dynamic launch and entry phases of the flight.
Furukawa was selected as a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut in 1999 and spent 165 days aboard the space station as part of Expeditions 28 and 29 in 2011.
He has a medical degree and a doctorate in medical science from the University of Tokyo.
Aboard the station, he will become a flight engineer for Expedition 69/70.
Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos is serving as the second Mission Specialist during his first trip to space.
He entered the Roscosmos Cosmonaut Corps as a test cosmonaut candidate in 2018 and will serve as a flight engineer for Expedition 69/70.
His presence onboard a SpaceX spacecraft is part of the Soyuz-Dragon exchange system aimed at maintaining at least one NASA Astronaut and one Roscosmos Cosmonaut on each of the crew rotation missions in the event that one of the two spacecraft is unable to fly.
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ESA’s mission
Astronaut Andreas Mogensen is also part of the European Space Agency mission called Huginn.
Inspired by Norse mythology, the name is taken from one of two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, who serve as helper spirits of the god Odin. They symbolize the human mind, with Huginn representing thought, and Muninn, memory.
Muninn is also the name of ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt’s short mission to the ISS launching in 2024 thanks to a commercial spaceflight agreement between ESA, the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA), and Axiom Space.
During his time on the Station, Andreas Mogensen will conduct many cutting-edge scientific experiments, the results of which will be translated to improving life back here on Earth.
ESA’s General Director Josef Aschbacher recently announced that Mogensen will serve as ISS commander during Expedition 70.
The cherry on top of the excellent discussion was that I got to announce that, save any unforeseen changes, @Astro_Andreas is set to serve as Commander of the @Space_Station during Expedition 70.#huginn #crew7 #Exp70 pic.twitter.com/YyaYw6o4A7
— Josef Aschbacher (@AschbacherJosef) June 20, 2023
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