Crew 8 and Dragon Endeavour Head towards the I.S.S.

Kennedy Space Center, FL. – With the arrival of the Crew-8 astronauts on February 25, 2024, everything continued to move forward towards today’s early morning launch of Crew-8 to the International Space Station (I.S.S.). 

After a one day delay for weather concerns, the Crew 8 launch came at 10:53 PM EST of March 3, 2024 from Launch Complex 39-A. Crew 8 is flying aboard the SpaceX Dragon “Endeavour” where they will dock at the Harmony section of the I.S.S. for their six month extended stay aboard where the crew will be conducting a variety of experiments during their time onboard.

Making up the astronaut team are: NASA Commander Matthew Dominick, Pilot Michael Barratt and mission specialist Jeanette Epps. Completing the crew assignment is Roscosmos Cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin. With the arrival of the Crew-8, there will be a contingent of eleven astronauts aboard the orbiting station until Crew-7 departs in the coming days. Michael Barratt is a veteran astronaut making his third trip to the I.S.S. and flew aboard a Soyuz spacecraft as well as space shuttle Discovery for STS-133 and now on Dragon “Endeavour”.

In a statement from NASA: “Congratulations to NASA and SpaceX on another successful launch to the International Space Station! On this eighth crew rotation mission, we are once again showing the strength of our commercial partnerships and American ingenuity that will propel us further in the cosmos,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Aboard the station, the crew will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations to help fuel this new era of space exploration and benefit humanity here on Earth.”

Image Credits: Michael Seeley and Graham Smith