Russian astronauts have yet to travel aboard the company's Crew Dragon capsule, despite the launch of NASA astronauts on the company's rockets.
The Crew-5 mission will take four astronauts to the International Space Station for half a year. You need to know what to look for in the launch.
Kennedy Space Center in Florida is where the launch is going to take place.
NASA Television will broadcast from the space station at 4:57 pm. The welcome ceremony takes place on Thursday.
Nicole Mann is the mission commander and John Cassada is the pilot on this flight. The other two are from Japan and Russia.
Russian and NASA astronauts used to fly on the space shuttles and Russian rockets, respectively. The only way to get astronauts to and from the space station was by the Russian Soyuz.
NASA wanted to be able to use the Crew Dragon even after it became operational in 2021. Russian astronauts were wanted to ride in the Crew Dragon, as well as in a second American capsule, which may become operational next year.
The space station is divided into two parts, one led by Russia and the other by NASA.
There are appropriately trained crew members on board the station for essential maintenance and spacewalks.
A serious health issue with a crew member can cause an early return to Earth. The crew would have to come back to Earth. There wouldn't be enough seats on the rest of the spaceship. Because of the intensive training needed, the astronauts can't just swap seats on a different spaceship. The Russian section of the space station would be untended if all the Russians had arrived on the Russian Soyuz.
As part of the crew exchanges, a NASA astronauts and two Russian astronauts were sent to the space station last month.
Sergei Krikalev, executive director for the human spaceflight programs at the Russian space agency, said that this type of exchange will increase the robustness of the program. We will keep doing this to make our program more reliable.
There is only one woman currently in the Russian space program. When the agreement between NASA and Russian space agency was complete, she was transferred to the SpaceX mission. She has never flown to space.
Elena Serova was the last woman from Russia to go to the space station. A Russian actress flew to the space station to film a scene for a movie.
Ms. Mann and Mr.Cassada have never flown before. Mr. Wakata has four previous missions, two of which were at the International Space Station.
Ms. Mann will be the first Indigenous woman from NASA to go to space.
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