SpaceX's Dragon crew will break US record for most days in space on February 7

NASA has informed that US astronauts living aboard the ISS orbital outpost will break the record on Sunday for most days in space by a crew launched aboard a US spacecraft. The astronauts, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins and Shannin Walker, and Soichi Noguchi from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), had docked the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to the US module on November 16, 2020. They will surpass the record for 84 days set by the Skylab 4 crew in 1974. 

SpaceX Dragon spacecraft of the crew has been named 'Resilience' in line with the teamwork and effort put in by the group of astronauts to get the mission ready. The mission is called Crew-1 and it is the first operational flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon astronaut taxi. The astronauts are set to spend six months at the orbiting laboratory before returning to Earth. 

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Super Bowl fans may spot ISS 

Space enthusiasts might remember that the first Crew Dragon passengers were NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who lifted off to the ISS on May 30, 2020. Both astronauts had spent 62 days at the International Space Station as part of the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission. Following an extensive study of flight data, NASA certified the first-ever commercial spacecraft system to transport humans to and from space. The Crew Dragon, including the Falcon 9 rocket and associated ground systems, is the first new, crew spacecraft to be NASA-certified for regular flights with astronauts since the space shuttle nearly 40 years ago. 

Meanwhile, apart from breaking the record, the US space agency also informed that the Super Bowl fans in Tampa, Florida, may be able to spot ISS on Sunday. According to a press release, the space station’s orbital path will take it within sighting range of Tampa, home of Super Bowl LV, at 7:15pm EST. The NFL championship game, Super Bowl 55, will send the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.

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