NASA reveals the four astronauts all set to board the Crew Dragon in October

NASA and SpaceX's first collaboration turned out to be a success when Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley made a successful splashdown returning from the International Space Station (ISS). Now, the two space research giants are all set to launch the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the ISS as a part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. NASA recently revealed the astronauts who will be boarding the Crew Dragon spacecraft and launching to ISS in October. Check out their details below -

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Commercial Crew Program astronauts

Image courtesy - Official NASA website

Michael Hopkins has been assigned as the Crew Dragon commander, he has spent 166 days in space earlier between 2013-14. Crew-1 will be piloted by Victor J. Glover, Jr. This will mark his first post-certification mission for NASA. Whereas Shannon Walker will be the mission specialist for Crew-1, she has previously spent 163 days in space. While Hopkins, Walker, and Glover have been associated with NASA, the fourth astronaut named Soichi Noguchi is associated with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). 

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Crew-1 will be launching on October 23, 2020, the date might experience some changes based on the weather condition, as seen with the launch earlier this year. The mission will complete the pending data reviews and certification following NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 flight which was the first crewed flight test of a commercially-owned and operated human space system. The crew transportations system reportedly allows NASA to fly astronauts to the space station from the American soil and ending its reliance on Russia to get access to ISS. 

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If the scheduled launch takes place as planned, Crew Dragon will lift off around 5;50 AM EDT in order to get a predawn entry in the orbit. The launch time is subjected to change in order to adjust to the re-boost manoeuvres and aerodynamic drag of the International Space Station. NASA and SpaceX are under collaboration for at least six crew rotation missions through 2024. NASA is reportedly committed to giving SpaceX funding of $3.1 Billion for development, testing, and operational flights of the commercial Crew Dragon spacecraft. The six-month mission is scheduled to kick off on October 23, 2020. 

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