NASA and SpaceX Announce Planned Launch Date for Monumental Crew-8 Mission

The official portrait of SpaceX Crew-8 includes Roscosmos cosmonaut and Mission Specialist Aleksandr Grebenkin, alongside Pilot Michael Barratt, Commander Matthew Dominick, and Mission Specialist Jeanette Epps. The latter three are all NASA astronauts. The photo is credited to NASA/Bill Stafford.

The Crew-8 mission led by NASA and SpaceX is set to launch no earlier than Thursday, February 22, directed towards the International Space Station. Work is ongoing in the background, as operations teams finalize the preparation of the Crew-8 hardware, ground systems, and carry out essential crew training, which involves the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket.

The crew listed for the mission includes NASA astronauts Commander Matthew Dominick, Pilot Michael Barratt, and Mission Specialist Jeanette Epps. Also on board will be Roscosmos cosmonaut and Mission Specialist Alexander Grebenkin. They will inhabit the orbital lab for roughly six months, undertaking research and operational tasks.

The spacecraft named Endeavour, Dragon, is set to fly Crew-8 to the space station. The spacecraft is currently under refurbishment in preparation for its fifth voyage. Dragon has previously facilitated Demo-2, Crew-2 and Crew-6 for NASA, and Axiom Mission 1 for Axiom Space to and from the orbiting lab. The refurbishment process includes the installation of new components like the heat shield, parachutes, pod panels, Draco engines, and the nose cone.

The Latin numeral 8 depicted as a never-ending path coupled with the bowing dragon in the official insignia of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission represents their commitment to maintaining a sustainable human research presence in low-Earth orbit at the International Space Station. The crew features NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Grebenkin.

SpaceX successfully finished the Dragon's propulsion system checkouts recently at its Cape Canaveral processing facility in Florida. The Dragon will soon be stacked on its trunk for transport to SpaceX's hangar at Launch Complex 39A situated at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will be incorporated into the rocket.

Simultaneously, preparation is underway for the Falcon 9 booster which will embark on its first flight on Crew-8. Upon completion of stage testing, the booster will go through final assembly at the SpaceX hangar at Launch Complex 39A. This will precede the Dragon and Falcon 9 mating. Once all the rocket and spacecraft system checkouts are done, the combined stack will be rolled to the pad and verticalized for the static fire test prior to the launch.

Crew-8 marks the eighth rotation mission to the space station since 2020 and the ninth human spaceflight mission supported by a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.