Jessica joins Crew-4 as a mission specialist, alongside Samantha as a fellow mission specialist and NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren as the commander and Bob “Farmer” Hines as pilot of their SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. This will be the first space flight for Jessica and Bob, while Samantha and Kjell have both flown before.
The four astronauts are scheduled to travel to the International Space Station in April 2022 for a long-duration mission aboard the science lab in space.
Upon hearing the announcement, Samantha tweeted her congratulations, saying: “So proud of you, Watty! After sharing the @NASA_NEEMO adventure on NEEMO23, I’m grateful to have you as a crewmate again on #Crew4. It will be fun!”
So proud of you, Watty! After sharing the @NASA_NEEMO adventure on NEEMO23, I'm grateful to have you as a crewmate again on #Crew4. It will be fun! https://t.co/0gqWW1LSRF
— Samantha Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) November 16, 2021
From ocean to orbit
NEEMO stands for NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations. It sees groups of astronauts, engineers and scientists descend around 19 m below the ocean’s surface to live and work at the world’s only undersea research base, Aquarius, for up to three weeks at a time.
Samantha led NEEMO23 in 2019, with a focus on both exploration spacewalks and objectives relating to the International Space Station and future deep space missions to the Moon and Mars. They also performed marine science under the guidance of Florida International University’s marine science department.
Activities included evaluating the second version of ESA’s Lunar Evacuation System Assembly (LESA) rescue device prototype during an underwater spacewalk.
Testing LESA during NEEMO23. Credit: ESA/NASA-H.Stevenin
The pyramid-like LESA structure is designed to be deployed by a single astronaut in lunar gravity to rescue an incapacitated crewmate. It enables an astronaut to lift their crewmate onto a mobile stretcher in less than 10 minutes, before carrying them to the safety of a nearby pressurised lander. Samantha and Jessica wore EVA gloves and took EVA suit constraints into account as they tested the lifesaving device underwater during their NEEMO mission – taking turns to rescue Comex’s EVA spacesuit simulator, which is equivalent to the weight of an astronaut wearing a spacesuit on the Moon.
Now, Samantha and Jessica will take what they learned, and the partnership they built, during their nine-days underwater well above the ocean’s surface. We look forward to following their journey to the International Space Station and their time in space.