Crew-8 Launched for Six-Months of Research Aboard the Space Station

By Bob Granath

A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off with three Americans and one Russian for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Ongoing research aboard the orbital laboratory is designed to benefit humans living on and off the Earth. What is learned in orbit also will help NASA prepare for long-term operations on and around the Moon and eventual exploration of Mars.

NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 10:53 p.m. EST on March 3, 2024 from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center.

After liftoff, the flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon was handed off to the company’s mission control center in Hawthorne, California.  Flight controllers will monitor the autonomous maneuvers leading to the spacecraft docking to the space station’s Harmony module.

After docking their spacecraft to the forward port on the space station’s Harmony, Crew-8 will continue the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The effort is a collaboration with industry to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to the orbiting outpost, a springboard for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.

During a pre-launch news briefing on Jan. 25, 2024, Joel Montalbano, manager of NASA’s International Space Station Program, stated that it is always a fun to talk about another group of astronauts heading to the International Space Station

“We’re excited about Crew-8,” he said. “We’ll have about a five to seven day handover with Crew-7. Crew-8 will be up there for about 180 days with a return in August. They are scheduled to perform about 200 experiments in research and technology development.”

Once aboard the space station, the Crew-8 astronauts will be welcomed inside the space station by the seven-members of Expedition 70 made up by NASA’s Crew-7 — NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency astronaut Andy Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov. They have been living and working on the orbital lab since Aug. 27, 2023.

Also aboard will be NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara with cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub who arrived on Sept. 15, 2023 aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After a handover period, Crew-7 will undock from the space station and splash down off the coast of Florida.

Soon after the arrival of Crew-8, Soyuz MS-25 is scheduled to arrive with NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus. The Soyuz MS-24 crew will return soon after

The Crew

Crew-8 commander Dominick holds the rank of commander in the U.S. Navy and will be making his first spaceflight. A native of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of San Diego, California, and a master’s in systems engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. After graduating from the U.S. Navy’s Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland, he served as a test pilot specializing in testing aircraft carrier landings and catapult launches. Dominick was selected as a NASA astronaut in June 2017.

Prior to the Crew-8 launch. Dominick answered a question he is often asked, “What do you do aboard the International Space Station?”

“I’m a mechanic, I gotta fix the space station when it breaks,” he said. “I’m a lab technician and I’m part of an experiment. Our most important experiment is understanding how humans respond to microgravity as we move humanity (farther) into the solar system.”

A physician specializing in aerospace medicine, Crew-8 pilot Barratt will be making his third trip into space. In doing so, he will become one of the few to travel to space on three different types of spacecraft – the Russian Soyuz, the American Space Shuttle and the SpaceX Crew Dragon. He was awarded a bachelor’s in zoology from the University of Washington in Seattle and a doctor of medicine degree from Northwestern University in Chicago. He was a NASA flight surgeon developing space medicine programs for the International Space Station prior to his selection as an astronaut in 2000.

Barratt launched to the space station in 2009 as part of the Soyuz TMA-14 crew, serving as a flight engineer for Expeditions 19/20 and performed two spacewalks. In 2011, he was part of the STS-133 crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery delivering the Permanent Multipurpose Module and fourth Express Logistics Carrier.

At a pre-launch news conference on Jan 25, 2024, Barrett spoke of the responsibility the crew has operating the International Space station.

“We accept that responsibility with humility and respect,” he said. “We’re looking forward to our launch.”

Also, flying in space for the first time, mission specialist Epps was born in Syracuse, New York, where she and her twin sister, Janet, excelled in math and science. Jeanette Epps earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from LeMoyne College in Syracuse. She went on to receive a masters and doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland in College Park. Epps worked in research at Ford Motor Company, then as a Technical Intelligence Officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. She was selected as an astronaut in 2009.

With NASA preparing for flights on spacecraft such as the SpaceX Crew Dragon, Boeing Starliner, Russian Soyuz or the Artemis Program’s Orion, Epps pointed out that NASA astronauts train for a variety of missions. Through Artemis, the agency will establish a long-term presence at the Moon for scientific exploration with our commercial and international partners, learn how to live and work away from home, and prepare for future human exploration of the Red Planet.

“We train vigorously for any mission we are assigned to,” she said. “Any spacecraft we can take to space is amazing.”

A native of Myski, Russia, Grebenkin is flying on his first mission and will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 70/71. He graduated from Irkutsk High Military Aviation School Irkutsk, Russia, majoring in engineering, maintenance and repair of aircraft radio navigation systems. He graduated from Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics with a degree in radio communications, broadcasting and television. He was selected as a cosmonaut in 2018.

During the pre-launch news conference, Grebenkin explained how the members of Crew-8 worked together in preparing for their mission aboard the space station.

“When a space crew is formed, bonding doesn’t happen in a single moment, it is a process,” he said. “During the training, the crew passes a lot of tests and exams. During this process, a crew is born and you know you can withstand any challenges or difficulties. And you know that each one can trust your crewmates and you can achieve a lot together.”

The Spacecraft

The SpaceX Crew Dragon is an autonomous spacecraft designed to deliver a mix of crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit. The capsule is 27 feet high and 13 feet in diameter. For NASA trips to the International Space Station, the Crew Dragon will carry from four to seven NASA-sponsored crewmembers and return astronauts with about 6,600 pounds of time-critical scientific research experiments and equipment.

The capsule’s trunk is an integral element of the spacecraft, containing solar panels, heat-removal radiators, and fins to provide aerodynamic stability in the unlikely event of an emergency abort.

The Falcon 9 launch vehicle is 229 feet tall and is 12 feet in diameter. The first stage has nine engines generating 1,710,000 pounds of thrust. The second stage has one engine with 210,000 pounds of thrust. Propellant for both stages are RP-1, highly refined kerosene, and liquid oxygen. Like the Crew Dragon spacecraft, the first stage of the rocket is reusable. The Falcon 9 first stage returns to either a landing pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station or a SpaceX drone ship off shore.

The Mission

Crew-8 will conduct scientific experiments and technology demonstrations to benefit life on Earth and prepare for NASA’s future human exploration efforts. Experiments include using stem cells to create organoid models to study degenerative diseases, as well as studying the effects of microgravity and ultraviolet radiation on plants at a cellular level. Another study will focus on testing whether wearing pressure cuffs on legs could prevent fluid shifts and reduce health problems in astronauts.

While aboard the orbiting laboratory, Crew-8 will see the arrival of the agency’s Boeing Starliner on the Crew Flight Test with U.S. astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams aboard. The first cargo flight of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser also is planned doing the mission as well as a Roscosmos Progress cargo spacecraft.

After completing a short handover with Crew-9 at the completion of the mission, Dragon, with the four crew members aboard, will autonomously undock, depart the space station, and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. After splashdown off Florida’s coast, a SpaceX recovery vessel will pick up the crew and spacecraft, who then will be taken by helicopter back to shore.

© 2024 SpaceAgeChronicle.com All Rights Reserved