NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Meets Dragon, Tests Equipment Ahead of Launch
The four crew members who will fly aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission got an up-close look on Monday, Feb. 17, at their Dragon spacecraft during the crew equipment interface test inside the new SpaceX Dragon processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test is one of the last steps in the crew’s training regimen before launch on March 12, pending mission readiness and completion of the agency’s certification of flight readiness process.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are set to launch to the International Space Station for a long-duration mission. This mission is the first spaceflight for Ayers and Peskov and the second mission to the orbiting laboratory for McClain and Onishi.
The daylong exercise gave the crew a chance to put on their spacesuits, enter the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, conduct suit leak checks, and ensure a good seat fit. They also familiarized themselves with the spacecraft’s interior, completed communications checkouts, and listened to the Dragon’s fans and pumps while inside, preparing the crew sounds they can expect to hear during the flight.
In addition to the session in Florida, the crew has been training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where they will enter routine quarantine roughly two weeks before flight.
Liftoff of Crew-10 aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket is targeted for no earlier than 7:48 p.m. EDT Wednesday, March 12, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy.
Crew-10 is the 10th crew rotation mission of SpaceX’s human space transportation system and its 11th flight with astronauts, including the Demo-2 test flight, to the space station through NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
