Spacecraft C210 Endurance will carry four astronauts to the ISS
The launch of Crew Dragon C210 'Endurance' spacecraft with Crew-5 crew by Falcon 9 v1.2 FT Block 5 rocket number B1077.1 from Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for October 5, 2022 at 12:00:56 EDT (16:00:56 UTC). The Crew-5 flight will carry NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, mission commander and pilot, respectively, with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, who will serve as mission specialists. Its docking in the Harmony module of the American segment of the ISS is scheduled for October 6 at 17:57:18 GMT.
The mass of the Falcon 9 rocket (whose first stage will make its first flight), at take-off, will be approximately 573,000 kg. A mass for the Crew Dragon spacecraft of around 14,200 kg is expected. Support ship Doug is towing the Just Read the Instructions – JRTI droneship bound for the rocket's first stage landing site in the Atlantic Ocean 540 km from Cape Canaveral. Shannon and Megan support boats will be on standby for any emergency launch.
SpaceX statically tested the nine Merlin 1D+ engines on the rocket's first stage on platform 39A on October 2. The weather forecasts favorable weather for major release dates and bookings this way: October 5, 90%; October 6th, 90%, and the 7th; 80%.
After docking at the station, the Crew-5 astronauts will be greeted by the seven-member Expedition 68 crew. Several days after the new crew arrives, the Crew-4 mission astronauts will leave the space station and return to Earth, landing off the coast of Florida.
NASA is preparing a variety of experiments for the crew to perform while in the space station's microgravity environment, including "printing human organs in space, understanding the fuel systems that operate on the Moon, and better understanding heart disease." “With Crew-5, we are planning a five to six-month mission. We usually have about 250 to 300 experiments for the team,” Joel Montalbano, ISS program manager at the agency, told a news conference, adding that extravehicular activities, or spacewalks, are planned.
The B1077 rocket to be used on this flight was damaged during transport to the test site, forcing SpaceX to overhaul its structure and delay take-off by about a month. A new Falcon 9 is planned to launch the Crew-5 mission, although SpaceX has a sufficient fleet of already certified stages. The new rocket was transported from the company's assembly plant in Hawthorne, California to the test site in McGregor, Texas.
On the road, there was the incident, which NASA decided not to comment on until the last moment (the booster hit a road bridge). To restore the rocket, SpaceX replaced the damaged interstage unit and various instruments (nitrogen bottles, Merlin Vac engine bleed lines, aerodynamic control vane actuator arms, etc).
Crew-5
Nicole Mann
Nicole Aunapu Mann was selected by NASA in June 2013. A native of California, she holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in mechanical engineering. Mann is a colonel in the Marine Corps and has served as a test pilot on the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet. She was seated twice aboard aircraft carriers in support of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. She was born in Petaluma, California and married Travis R. Mann. They are parents of one child and live in Houston, TX. She graduated from Rancho Cotate High School, Rohnert Park, California, in 1995. She received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1999. A Master's in Mechanical Engineering with a major in Fluid Mechanics from Stanford University in 2001. Mann was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in 1999. After graduate school, she completed Basic School (TBS) in Quantico, Virginia and reported to Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, Florida, to flight training in 2001. Earned her gold wings as a naval aviator in 2003 and reported to the VFA-106 for fleet training on the F/A-18C. She began her operational flight career in 2004 with the VMFA-251 Thunderbolts based in Beaufort, South Carolina. During this mission, she served twice with the CVW-1 aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and flew combat missions in support of Operations IRAQI FREEDOM and ENDURING FREEDOM. Upon returning from his second mission, Mann reported to the United States Naval Test Pilot School, Class 135, in NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. In June 2009, began his developmental test tour at the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron TWO THREE (VX-23) as an F/A-18 test pilot/project officer. While on the VX-23, Mann performed a variety of flight tests, including cargo envelope expansion, flight qualities, carrier suitability, and munitions separation on the F/A-18A-F. In the spring of 2011, Mann assumed duties as Operations Officer for VX-23. In July 2012, Mann was assigned to PMA-281 as the Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS-E) Integrated Product Team Leader (IPT) when she was selected as an astronaut candidate. She has amassed more than 2,500 flight hours on 25 aircraft types, 200 aircraft carrier arrests and 47 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mann was selected in June 2013 as one of eight members of NASA's 21st astronaut class. His astronaut candidate training included intensive instruction in International Space Station systems, spacewalks, Russian language training, robotics, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. She completed Astronaut Candidate training in July 2015. She served as the T-38 Security and Training Officer and most recently completed a tour as Assistant to the Chief of Exploration. She led the astronaut corps in the development of the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) and Exploration Ground Systems (EGS).
Josh Cassada
Josh A. Cassada was selected by NASA in 2013. He was born in San Diego, California, but considers his hometown White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Married to ex-Megan Friedly of Charlevoix, Michigan. They have two children. He grew up in White Bear Lake, Minnesota and is a US Navy physicist and test pilot. Before becoming a naval aviator, Cassada earned his BA in Physics from Albion College and his Ph. D. at the University of Rochester, conducting experimental research in high-energy physics at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. After two operational missions on the P-3C, including 23 combat missions, Cassada was a test pilot of the P-3C and P-8A, as well as an instructor at the US Naval Test Pilot School. Cassada has accumulated over 4,000 flight hours on over 45 different aircraft.
He graduated from White Bear Lake Area High School, White Bear Lake, Minnesota in 1991. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Albion College, Albion, Michigan in 1995. He obtained a Master of Arts (1997) and a Doctorate (2000) in Physics with a specialization in high energy particle physics from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. After completing her research at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and defending her dissertation, Cassada received her Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in 2000. He was commissioned as a naval officer later that year, earning his golden wings as a naval aviator in 2001. He began his operational flying career in 2002 with the VP-8 Fighting Tigers stationed at Brunswick , Maine. As commander of the P-3C patrol aircraft, mission commander and instructor pilot, Cassada was deployed to the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean Sea and Central America, serving in various operations including Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and tsunami relief in various services during Operation Unified Assistance. After graduating from the US Naval Test Pilots School in 2006, he served as a developmental test pilot for P-8A and P-3C aircraft in Patuxent River, Maryland. He was the P-8A Airworthiness Project Officer and lead test pilot for various Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft programs. Cassada then completed a tour as a T-38C and T-6A instructor pilot at the US Naval Test Pilots School, giving instruction in all phases of the fixed-wing curriculum. In 2011, he was assigned to DCMA Boeing Seattle as Head of Flight Operations, leading all aircraft operations and contract oversight for the P-8A, KC-46, AWACS and USMC UAV, while also performing the Navy flight acceptance test of the P-8A aircraft. . He later co-founded Quantum Opus, LLC, producing high-speed, low-loss photon detectors to enable next-generation experiments in quantum optics, optical quantum computing, single-photon communication, low-flux biophotonics, and remote sensing. Accumulated more than 4,000 flight hours in more than 40 different aircraft, in addition to 23 combat missions producing high-speed, low-loss photon detectors to enable next-generation experiments in quantum optics, optical quantum computing, single-photon communication, low-flux biophotonics, and remote sensing.
Cassada was selected in June 2013 as one of eight members of NASA's 21st astronaut class. His candidate training has included intensive instruction in International Space Station systems, extravehicular activity, robotics, Russian language training, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. Upon completion of astronaut candidate training in July 2015, Cassada supported real-time space station operations and integration, including serving as a capsule communicator in Mission Control, as well as the development of the Orion and Crew Dragon spacecraft. Commercial Crew Program.
Koichi Wakata
Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata accumulated several records during his career. Among them, he was the first Japanese astronaut to make four spaceflights. Also, in 2014, Wakata became the first Japanese to command the International Space Station. Wakata was born on August 1, 1963, in Saitama, Honshu, Japan. As a boy, he dreamed of becoming an astronaut. However, he didn't think it was possible, because at that time Japan didn't have a relevant space program. Instead, he turned his attention to building and flying planes. Wakata attended Kyushu University in Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu. He earned a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1987 and a master's degree in applied mechanics in 1989. Years later, in 2004, he obtained a doctorate in aerospace engineering.
In 1989, Wakata began working for Japan Airlines as an aircraft structural engineer. Three years later, the Japan National Space Development Agency (now the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA) chose him to begin astronaut training. The organization sent him to NASA in the United States. NASA trained Wakata at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. There he studied space shuttle robotics, payloads, and ISS operations.
In 1996, Wakata made its first mission on the space shuttle Endeavor. He operated the robotic arm to retrieve a Japanese satellite. In 2000 he traveled to the ISS on the Discovery shuttle. Once again he used the robotic arm, this time to move and install parts of the space station. In 2006, Wakata led a small team in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's underwater habitat off the coast of Florida. During the week's stay, the crew attempted deep-ocean missions. The underwater environment simulates the conditions of space.
In 2009, Wakata carried out its first long-duration mission. He stayed for about five months, becoming the first Japanese astronaut to live on the ISS for an extended period. He conducted experiments and took care of the station installation using robotic arms. Wakata began his six-month stay on the ISS in late 2013. For two of those months, in 2014, he served as commander of the space station.
Anna Kikina
Anna Kikina is the only woman in the Russian cosmonaut corps and will be the fifth Russian cosmonaut. Anna is 37 years old and was born on August 27, 1984 in Novosibirsk. In 2005, she took courses at the Ministry of Emergency Situations as an instructor in teaching first aid to the population and has a lifeguard certificate. In 2006, she graduated from the Novosibirsk State Academy of Water Transport in Emergency Protection. In the same place, in 2008, she received a second higher education in the specialty “Economics and management in the company (transport)”. According to her first training, Kikina is a hydraulic engineer, and her second training is as a manager economist. For some time before joining the cosmonaut corps, Anna worked as a program director at Radio Siberia Altai LLC. It was there that I learned about the beginning of the selection for the cosmonaut corps. “Before that, I didn't even think about space. More or less understanding what kind of activity this is, having assessed the situation, I decided that this was exactly what I wanted to do next. I was on fire with the desire for self-fulfillment in this profession,” Kikina said in one of her interviews.
This will be the first flight by a Russian woman Cosmonaut into space in eight years (the previous Russian, Elena Serova, went into space in 2014 and returned in 2015). This will be the first flight by a Russian representative on the Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the first flight in 20 years by a Russian on an American spacecraft (in December 2002, Valery Korzun and Sergei Treshchev landed on the space shuttle Endeavor).
It will be the 22nd Russian to fly in an American spacecraft (Sergey Krikalev made three flights, Vladimir Titov, Yuri Usachev, Vladimir Dezhurov and Nikolai Budarin – two flights each, the rest one each) This will be the second flight by a Russian in an American spacecraft (in May 1997, Elena Kondakova flew the space shuttle Atlantis).
In 2012, Kikina became a participant in the first open selection competition for the cosmonaut corps. In total, 43 applications were submitted by women, of which six were invited to the Cosmonaut Training Center for selection. As a result, only Anna was included in the pool of eight candidates (the remaining seven were men) who were allowed to train. From 2012 to 2014, Anna underwent general space training. During this time, she learned to fly the L-39 aircraft, parachuted and underwent weightless training aboard the Il-76MDK laboratory aircraft, isolation chamber tests, diving training and survival training in various climate zones and geographic. “We 'survived' with equipment made specifically for astronauts. The conditions are the same, but the items you use are strictly defined. You learn how to properly handle the downhill vehicle, how to get out of it. To go out or not to go out, to use as a cover or not. Radio communication, access to communication, drawing attention to rescue teams. You adjust, you get out of the situation. You, for example, only have one machete for the entire crew. There is nothing special to dig in the snow, there is no shovel”, Anna shared with the media previously.
In 2014, by the decision of the Interdepartmental Qualification Commission, Kikina was recommended for admission to the post of test cosmonaut of the cosmonaut corps. In 2017, she participated in the SIRIUS international isolation experiment, which simulated a flight to the Moon. Since May 2021, Kikina, along with Sergey Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin, had been training as an ISS-67 reserve crew as a flight engineer for the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft and a flight engineer for the International Space Station.
In 2021, Kikina became an ambassador for the clothing collection for Russian athletes at the Tokyo Olympics. In 2021, the Barbie brand launched a doll with her image: Barbie Cosmonaut Kikina is presented in two versions: in a training suit and in a space suit. Anna Kikina is a sports master in polyathlon (all-around) and rafting. A certified PADI / Open Water Diver, she is an airlift instructor and has completed over 150 skydives.
In July 2022, Roscosmos and NASA signed an agreement on cross-flights. Within its structure, American astronauts will fly in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and Russian cosmonauts in the American spacecraft. The agreement provides for three exchanges of cosmonauts. As part of the first one, astronaut Francisco Rubio joined the crew of the Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, and Anna Kikina was named a mission specialist for the crew of the Crew 5 mission.
Roscosmos on Monday published a video showing the Russian cosmonaut's final training before the flight. “There's a week to go before the launch. Anna Kikina continues to actively prepare for the flight, and keeps her physical fitness at a very high level. The cosmonaut is quarantined in a special complex at Lyndon Johnson Space Center in Houston,” reads the description of the video posted on Roscosmos' Telegram channel. The video shows Kikina working out on weight machines at the gym. “A big hello to everyone. Feeling good, in good shape. See you soon”, wished the cosmonaut. Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, who took off on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft on September 21, will be waiting for Anna on the ISS.
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