KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – Four space travelers are preparing for the upcoming departure to the International Space Station.
SpaceX is targeting a Wednesday launch for Crew-10 just after sunset. The team consists of two NASA astronauts, a JAXA astronaut and a Roscosmos cosmonaut. The crew completed a full dress rehearsal of launch day activities on Sunday.
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Crew-10 marks 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.
Let’s get to know members who make up Crew-10.
Selected by NASA in 2013, Anne McClain is a colonel in the U.S. Army and a native of Spokane, Washington.
After earning Bachelor of Science in mechanical/aeronautical engineering from West Point, she went on to earn Master of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Bath in Bath, England and a Master of Science in international relations from the University of Bristol in Bristol, England..
McClain is a Master Army Aviator with more than 2,000 flight hours in 20 different aircraft. She is an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior pilot and instructor pilot, and a rated pilot in the C-12 Huron (King Air), UH-60 Blackhawk, and UH-72 Lakota. McClain most recently served as Flight Engineer on the International Space Station for Expedition 58 and 59.
McClain’s accolades include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit and Distinguished Service Medal.
Crew-10 will mark McClain’s second spaceflight where she’ll serve as commander.
Nichole Ayers was selected by NASA to join the 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class.
The Colorado native graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. Ayers then went on to earn her master’s degree in computational and applied mathematics from Rice University in Houston.
Ayers is a T-38A and F-22 Raptor instructor and has flown missions all over the nation and the world.
Ayers has received numerous awards including the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, and the Aerial Achievement Medal. She’ll serve as the pilot for the Crew-10 mission which will be her first spaceflight.
Takuya Onishi, Mission specialist
Takuya Onishi is no stranger to space having spent roughly 113 days in orbit as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station.
As part of Expeditions 48 and 49 in 2016, he became the first Japanese astronaut to capture the Cygnus spacecraft in space.
The Tokyo native received his bachelor’s degree from the department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Faculty of Engineering, the University of Tokyo in 1998. In 2009 he joined the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Kirill Peskov, Mission specialist
Kirill Peskov is a Russian cosmonaut and preparing for his first spaceflight as a member of Crew-10
In 2018, he was selected as a cosmonaut of Roscosmos Group 17. Prior to that, he earned a degree in engineering from the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation School and was a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for airlines Nordwind and Ikar.
Assigned as a test cosmonaut in 2020, Peskov has additional experience in skydiving, zero-gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival.
Crew-10 is set to launch no earlier than 7:48 p.m. on March 12 from Launch Complex 39A aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
After Crew-10 arrives to the space station, NASA and SpaceX will prepare to return to NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore to Earth, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard Crew-9 pending weather conditions at the splashdown sites off the coast of Florida.
Crew-9 had originally been a crew of four space travelers but was cut to two so that there would be room to retrieve Wilmore and Williams, who have been at the space station since June.
Wilmore and William flew on Boeing’s Starliner capsule for its initial flight, but a mission riddled with thruster failures and helium leaks forced NASA to return the troubled capsule to Earth without its astronauts.