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Four astronauts from NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Tuesday afternoon after a short flight on a private NASA jet from Houston.
After speaking to reporters, NASA’s Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoberg, Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedayov were escorted to the astronaut quarters at KSC. There, they will live in isolation and prepare ahead of their launch to the International Space Station.
At a news conference Tuesday, NASA leadership and other mission managers announced that the launch is expected to take place from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday, February 27, 24 hours late at 1:45 a.m. EST.
Ken Bowersox, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for space operations, explained to reporters that “in today’s readiness vote, everyone said ‘go.’
According to NASA’s Steve Stich, commercial crew program manager, that work was “mainly getting the vehicle (and) Dragon and Falcon 9 ready. We were a little behind.”
A dry suit rehearsal of launch day procedures and the steady firing of the 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket’s nine engines are the final hurdles to clear before liftoff. Stich told reporters he expected those proceedings to be completed by Friday morning.
Early Monday morning, four crew members from three international space agencies will launch aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavor capsule stacked atop a Falcon 9.
The nearly six-month science mission is SpaceX’s seventh mission with NASA, but the ninth human spaceflight for the agency, which includes two private space missions, Inspiration4 and Axiom-1.
Crew-6 marks the first long-duration mission for any astronaut from the UAE. A Russian cosmonaut will be on board as part of a long-term partner project with the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Rocket Launch Schedule:Upcoming Florida launches and landings
Principle-2:Two Saudi astronauts will fly with SpaceX on the next Axiom Space private mission to the ISS
On the way to Spin:NASA and Boeing are still working on the final stages of Starliner’s astronaut test flight
Meet the team members
Three Crew-6 astronauts, Hoberg, Alnyadi and Fedayev, were the first to fly in space. Bowen, the crew-6 mission commander on his fourth trip to space, is the only senior astronaut aboard.
“These are the missions that we do, and these are the things that we can take together and showcase the International Space Station,” NASA’s Joel Montalbano, manager of the International Space Station program, told reporters at a pre-flight press conference in January.
Roscosmos’s Sergei Krikalev, director of human spaceflight programs, told reporters, “This kind of functional exchange, a task-integrated team, (is) very useful and increases the reliability of our missions.”
NASA astronaut: Stephen Bowen, Crew-6 commander
Bowen is from Cohasset, Massachusetts, and has three children with his wife, Deborah.
He is a veteran of three space missions, helping build the ISS on NASA’s space shuttles Endeavor, Atlantis and Discovery. He is a retired Navy captain and was the first submarine officer selected by NASA for astronaut missions in 2000.
Crew-6 is Bowen’s first long-duration mission after spending more than 40 days in space and completing seven spacewalks.
“For me, this is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to spend more than two weeks on the space station, so I’m looking forward to the opportunity,” Bowen told reporters last month. “As a contractor, when you build (a) house, you can see how things come together, but, most of the time, you never get to live there. I get to go to a house that I helped build, and that’s what I’m most excited about.”
NASA Astronaut: Warren “Woody” Hoberg, Crew-6 pilot
Hoburg is an instrument-rated commercial pilot from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the time of his selection as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 2017, he was an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Before joining NASA, he earned a bachelor’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT and a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley.
Crew-6 was Hoburg’s first space mission. He told reporters in January that he expected to spend about half of his working time aboard the ISS doing scientific research and the rest “keeping the space station healthy” with routine maintenance, repairs and upgrades. When asked what he was most looking forward to, he said, “I’m trying not to get too excited about doing a (spacewalk), but it’s definitely on the list.”
A photograph of his father going into space accompanies him. “Unfortunately, over the summer, I lost my father,” Hoberg said. “Then I’ll bring his photo, it means a lot to me. I want him to come with me.”
United Arab Emirates Astronaut: Sultan Alneyadi, Crew-6 Mission Specialist
Sultan Alneyadi is representing the UAE’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center on Crew-6, organized by Axiom Space, a private company that partners with NASA to provide missions to the ISS for non-NASA companies. This marks the first long-duration mission for any astronaut from an Arab country and the first time a UAE astronaut has flown on a commercial space shuttle.
Before training as an astronaut, he served as a communications engineer in the UAE Armed Forces.
Alneyadi was selected as an astronaut by the United Arab Emirates Astronaut Program in 2017. In 2018, a participant in the first UAE private space mission trained with Roscosmos as an alternate crew member. Since then, he has cross-trained with NASA and SpaceX for future long-duration space missions, including completing spacewalk training and flying NASA’s T-38 jets.
“The thought of waking up every morning and having access to a window like the cupola, I think it’s really out of this world,” Alneyadi told reporters in January. “To be able to see and scan the entire world in 90 minutes is amazing.”
“When I look at Earth, I plan to look at it with a camera,” he said. “I want to share that first moment with everyone. I hope it works.”
Alnyadi’s seat on SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission was swapped last April as part of an unfunded 2021 deal between Axiom Space and NASA. A seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that Axiom Space originally purchased for one of their personal astronauts was instead used to fly a NASA astronaut. In exchange, Axiom Space was given a place on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission. Alneyadi’s assignment to Crew-6 Finalized and announced by NASA Last year in July.
Roscosmos cosmonaut: Andrey Fedayev, Crew-6 mission specialist
Fedyaev was a key employee of the Russian Air Force when he was selected for a space mission in 2012 before retiring in 2013.
She is the second Russian cosmonaut to go to the space station with SpaceX on a long-duration mission, following Crew-5’s Anna Kikhina.
Speaking to reporters through an interpreter in January, Fedyaev said, “Space cooperation has a very long history. People’s lives on the International Space Station are actually a very good example of how people should live on Earth.”
On Sunday, February 12, the four crew members entered a two-week quarantine period, a routine part of flight preparation. If schedules hold, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission should launch from Florida by the end of the month.
For real-time updates and live video, visit floridatoday.com/space on launch day.
For the latest information, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
Jamie Crow is Florida Today’s space reporter. You can reach him at [email protected]. Follow her Twitter at @AlteredJamie.
Start Monday, February 27
- Company/Agency: SpaceX for NASA
- Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
- Location: Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center
- Release Time: 1:45 am
- Route: Northeast
- Weather: TBD
- Landing: Drone ship
- Live Streaming: Starts 90 minutes before departure floridatoday.com/space
- About: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will carry NASA’s next astronauts to the International Space Station as the agency’s seventh dedicated mission for the agency. The team included NASA’s Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoberg, Sultan Alnyadi of the United Arab Emirates, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedayev.
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