A New Crew Prepares for Space
On a sweltering summer afternoon, a group of astronauts arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, clad in their signature blue NASA flight suits. They were ready to embark on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) later this week. As the NASA Gulfstream aircraft came to a stop at the Space Florida Landing Facility, the four crew members of Crew-11 disembarked and made their way toward the waiting media.
The crew includes NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. They are set to launch no earlier than 12:09 p.m. on July 31 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will be carried into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
“I’ve been on different crews before, but this one is exceptional,” said Fincke, who will serve as the mission pilot. “We’ve been training together for over a year now, and we’re ready to fly,” added Cardman, who will be the commander of the mission.
This will be Cardman’s first spaceflight. Originally scheduled to fly in 2024 as part of Crew-9, she was reassigned to make room for the return of Starliner Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams. The Starliner spacecraft experienced a malfunction during its June 2024 flight test, which would have certified it to transport NASA astronauts alongside SpaceX’s Dragon.
“I’m so honored to be here with the crew, and taking part in this long history of human spaceflight,” said Cardman.
The crew will be part of Expedition 73 and will be onboard the ISS for the station’s 25th anniversary. The ISS saw its first long-duration crew in November 2000.
While this is the first spaceflight for the Russian cosmonaut, the other two crew members bring significant experience. It will be Finke’s fourth spaceflight and Yui’s second.
“It’s great to be back,” said Finke. “One of the last times I landed at the SLF (shuttle landing facility) was on a space shuttle.” Finke was part of Expedition 9 in 2004 and his last spaceflight was on the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavor, STS-134, in 2011. Now, he will be flying on another Endeavor — SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavor.
Upcoming Launch Details
SpaceX has already transported the Dragon spacecraft that will carry this crew to the launch pad hangar, where it will be mounted to the Falcon 9 rocket. This will be the sixth flight of the Dragon spacecraft named Endeavor. NASA recently went through a recertification process with SpaceX to allow the company to exceed the previously certified five flights per capsule. Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, mentioned during a July press briefing that NASA aims to eventually certify each SpaceX Dragon for up to 15 flights.
Endeavor is the same Dragon spacecraft that launched DEMO-2 in 2020. That mission marked the first orbital launch of astronauts from America since the retirement of the space shuttle and was the flight that certified the Dragon to ferry NASA astronauts.
“I still remember watching that last shuttle launch, STS-135, sitting in a conference room with a very small Dragon team at the time, and it was my first few days here. And I remember looking at the faces around and thinking ‘Today we begin. The world is counting on us to write the next chapter of human spaceflight,'” said Sarah Walker, director of SpaceX Dragon missions, during the July press briefing.
Once Crew-11 arrives at the ISS, NASA’s Crew-10 will prepare to return to Earth. Crew-10 will be the first NASA crew to splashdown in a Dragon on the West Coast. SpaceX moved recovery operations to California earlier this year.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@Vmeetsolutions or on X: @brookeofstars.