Launch Date for NASA Crew-8 Mission Announced

By Cathy Padilla

On February 1, NASA announced the anticipated launch for the SpaceX Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station will take place sometime after February 22. Crew-8 includes four people, NASA astronauts Commander Matthew Dominick, Pilot Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps and one Russian cosmonaut, Alexander Grebenkin. After the crew arrives at the International Space Station, they'll conduct experiments as they will be in low-Earth orbit. This will be the eighth mission of NASA’s commercial crew program.

As part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, four crew members are preparing to launch to the International Space Station and conduct a wide-ranging set of operational and research activities. Launching aboard the Dragon spacecraft will be NASA astronauts Commander Zena Cardman, Pilot Nick Hague, and Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson. Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov will join Expedition 71 and 72 crew members no earlier than August. They will arrive to the space station for a short duration handover with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission.

Photo caption: Official NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 portraits with Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, Stephanie Wilson and Aleksandr Gorbunov. NASA