Introduction

SpaceX Crew-5 is the eighth crewed orbital flight overall and the fifth crewed operational NASA Commercial Crew Program flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. Four crew members were delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) during the mission, which took out on October 5, 2022, and docked on October 6, 2022, at 21:01 UTC. The mission is being carried out by two NASA astronauts, one JAXA astronaut, and one Russian cosmonaut. In response to Boeing’s Starliner program’s delays, three of the crew members were allocated. Pilot Josh Cassada and Mission Specialist Koichi Wakata transferred from the Boeing Starliner-1 mission, while Commander Nicole Mann was reassigned from Boeing’s Boe-CFT mission to the flight. [5] [6] Soyuz MS-22’s Anna Kikina was given a new assignment. Wakata is the only veteran among the four crew members, who are all newcomers. Wakata has made four prior space trips, while the other three crew members are taking their maiden trip into orbit.

Crew

As part of the Soyuz-Dragon crew swap system, which ensures that at least one NASA astronaut and one Roscosmos cosmonaut are present on each crew rotation flight, this is the first Crew Dragon mission to carry a Russian cosmonaut, Anna Kikina, who was chosen for this mission in July 2022. This guarantees that both nations will be represented on the station and will be able to keep running their systems if either the Soyuz or commercial crew vehicles are grounded for an extended period. [7] Since Nikolai Budarin’s flight on STS-113, no Russian cosmonaut has taken to the skies on a U.S. spacecraft. This is also the first time a Russian cosmonaut has been launched aboard a U.S. spacecraft. June 2022 saw the approval of the seat swap (by the Russian only).

Mission

Launched on October 5, 2022, the fifth SpaceX operational mission in the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) is expected to span roughly six months.