Two NASA astronauts will fly to the International Space Station on the crew’s fourth commercial mission at SpaceX in 2022, and you can follow their adventures on social media next year.
Kjell Lindgren, a potential moon-bound astronaut for the Artemis program who spoke to the stars “The Martian” from orbit in 2015, will return to space for his second mission. Joining him will be Bob Hines, a research test pilot (much like the famous moonwalker Neil Armstrong) who just graduated to full astronaut status last year after his selection in 2017.
The mission will launch sometime in 2022 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the usual launch site: Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Related: SpaceX and NASA target April 20 for Crew Dragon’s next launch to the ISS
Both astronauts regularly post their training on social media, so you can see how they prepare for the big flight. The astronauts have already talked about their assignments on Twitter. “So blessed to be a part of this team”, Hines tweeted. Lindgren said he was excited to join Hines in space and share the journey to launch, adding, “Let’s fly!” You can follow Lindgren on Twitter and Instagram, or Hines in Twitter and Instagram.
More crew members will join Hines and Lindgren in Crew Dragon, which seats up to four people, after international agency assignment, NASA said in a statement. (The agencies most likely to join them would be those of the major space station partners Russia, Europe or Japan, as the next astronaut assignment from minority partner Canada is expected in 2023.)
Lindgren, the first Taiwan-born astronaut in space, spent 141 days in space during Expeditions 44 and 45, conducting dozens of experiments along with opportunities for public engagement, such as celebrating Thanksgiving in orbit and being one of the the first people. eat space-grown plants. The Lindgren mission also coincided with the one-year mission of NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, which continues to generate valuable research on how long stays in space affect the human body.
Lindgren, who was a flight surgeon for space shuttle and space station missions before being selected for astronaut training in 2009, has a BA in biology from the United States Air Force Academy, a master’s in cardiovascular physiology from the Colorado State University and a medical degree from the University of Colorado, NASA said.
Hines is a lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force and graduated from the prestigious Air Force Test Pilot School, according to his NASA biography. Before NASA took him to astronaut school in 2017, he supported military deployments in various countries, served as a test pilot with the Federal Aviation Administration, and flew as a NASA research pilot. His bachelor’s degree is in aerospace engineering from the University of Alabama.
Hines frequently posts about flights on Twitter, and was one of the astronauts mourning the loss of Chuck Yeager, the pilot who broke the speed of sound, in December at age 97. “An American legend, a war hero, and a great story. Cashier. He’s … why I joined the Air Force.” Hines tweeted. “I had the honor of meeting and speaking to him several times. I will never forget his stories about the Air Corps ‘meat peddlers’! We will never see another like him again. Good luck, General Yeager!
SpaceX is the first company to send a commercial crew vehicle into space and put its first two manned flights into orbit in 2020. Boeing, another company tasked with transporting astronauts to orbit, faces continuing delays with its Starliner CST-100 spacecraft. , but he hopes to do a second unmanned test flight not before April.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and Facebook.