SpaceX's next astronaut mission is scheduled to take place very soon, and the company is preparing the capsule that will carry Crew-8 .
See also: SpaceX: Accused of illegally firing employees
The company has just launched the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon capsule that will carry the Crew-8 mission, the next mission SpaceX will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on behalf of NASA.
Mission Crew-8 is scheduled to depart from Tower 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday (March 1) at 12:04 a.m. Eastern Time.
Crew-8 will send NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barrett, Jeannette Epps and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin to the ISS for six months. Dominick will be the Crew-8 commander, Barrett will be the pilot, and Epps and Grebenkin will serve as mission specialists.
See also: SpaceX: Plans to Sell Shares Worth $175 Billion
The four-member crew will replace the four astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-7 mission, who are scheduled to depart the ISS about a week after Crew-8 arrives.
As its name suggests, Crew-8 will be the eighth operational astronaut mission that SpaceX will conduct to the ISS on behalf of NASA.
See also: SpaceX's Starship: Next launch could be a refueling test
The space agency has signed a similar contract with aerospace company Boeing, which plans to do so with a capsule called Starliner. Boeing is preparing for the first crewed flight of Starliner, a test flight with two astronauts to the ISS that is scheduled to launch in mid-April.
Source: space.com
