ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer will fly as a mission specialist alongside NASA astronauts spacecraft commander Raja Chari, pilot Thomas Marshburn, and fellow mission specialist Kayla Barron. The crew entered their official quarantine Saturday 16 October and will travel to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the final days of training and preparation before launch.
They will launch aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance and its Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A.
Crew-3 astronauts are scheduled for a long-duration science mission aboard the orbiting laboratory, living and working as part of what is expected to be a seven-member crew.
Crew-3 in their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endurance. Credit: SpaceX
A launch on 31 October will see Crew-3 arrive at the International Space Station early on Monday 1 November for a short handover with the astronauts on board, including ESA astronaut and current International Space Station commander Thomas Pesquet.
With the Crew-3 launch date adjustment, return of Crew-2 with NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, currently is planned for early November with splashdown of Crew Dragon Endeavour at one of seven landing zones off the coast of Florida.