Crew-8 Embarks on Journey to Space Station

A Crew Dragon spaceship is zooming its way to the International Space Station (ISS) with a crew of four Americans and Russians on board. They blasted off on March 3 from Launch Complex 39A at 10:53 p.m. Eastern for NASA’s Crew-8 mission. The spaceship, called Endeavour, separated from the rocket’s upper stage about 12 minutes after liftoff.

Endeavour is set to dock with the Harmony module of the ISS around 3 a.m. on March 5. On board are NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin. They’re all geared up for a six-month stay aboard the ISS.

Originally, the launch was planned for early March 1, but it got pushed back due to bad weather forecasts along the launch route in case of an emergency. NASA and SpaceX aimed for a launch on the evening of March 2, but called it off more than three hours before liftoff due to weather concerns.

Sarah Walker, from SpaceX, said at a post-launch briefing that there was a minor hiccup with a seal on the spaceship’s hatch, but it was cleared just before liftoff. NASA’s Steve Stich agreed with SpaceX’s assessment, saying it was nothing to worry about.

This mission marks the first trip to space for Dominick, Epps, and Grebenkin. Barratt, on the other hand, is a seasoned astronaut, making his third trip to space. Epps’ journey to space has been a long time coming, as she’s the last member of the 2009 astronaut class to go to space. She had a Soyuz mission scheduled in 2018 but got replaced for reasons not disclosed by NASA.

Endeavour, the spaceship they’re riding, has quite a track record. It’s the first Crew Dragon to hit five flights, which is the current limit NASA has set. But they’re looking into extending that to 15 flights.

SpaceX has four active Crew Dragon spaceships, with plans to build a fifth one by the end of this year. After Crew-8, they’re lining up Crew-9 for NASA’s next mission to the ISS, followed by a private astronaut mission and another non-ISS mission.

Once Crew-8 docks with the ISS, they’ll spend five days handing over tasks with the Crew-7 mission, which has been on the station since August. They’ll return to Earth no earlier than March 11 aboard the Crew Dragon spaceship Endurance.