All Aboard! Astronauts Climb Into Dragon for NASA Crewed Mission
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke walk down the crew access arm of Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 launch on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025.
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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 crew members now are boarding SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
Before entering their spacecraft upon their first launch attempt, all four crewmates signed the inside of the White Room, an area at the end of the crew access arm that provides access to the spacecraft. The term “White Room” dates to NASA’s Gemini program. To honor this human spaceflight tradition, the room is still painted white today.
As the crew enters Dragon, their seats are configured in an upright position. Once the crew is securely inside, the seats will be rotated into a reclined position for launch, just before teams close Dragon’s side hatch, coming up in about 30 minutes.
