Next astronauts could be heading to the space station in week: What to know about Crew-11
The mission, known as Crew-11, is the latest in a series of joint ventures between NASA and SpaceX to send astronauts to the outpost, where they spend months at a time conducting scientific research only possible in orbit. The four-person crew, which includes two NASA astronauts, are the first humans to fly to space since a relatively brief private voyage known as Axiom Mission 4 came to an end earlier in July after 20 days.
The arrival of the astronauts selected for the Crew-11 mission at the space station will also pave the way for four others to leave. Their Crew-10 predecessors arrived at the ISS in mid-March in a headline-grabbing mission that set the stage for the long-awaited departure of the NASA astronauts − Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams − who crewed the ill-fated Starliner space capsule the year before.
Here's everything to know about the Crew-11 mission and its impending launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
What is the SpaceX Crew-11 mission?
As the name suggests, Crew-11 is NASA and SpaceX's 11th science expedition to the International Space Station.
The missions, most of which last about six months, are contracted under NASA's commercial crew program. The program allows the U.S. space agency to pay SpaceX to launch and transport astronauts and cargo to orbit aboard the company's own vehicles, freeing up NASA to focus on its Artemis lunar program and other spaceflight missions, including future crewed voyages to Mars.
When was the first NASA, SpaceX Crew mission? What is the Dragon?
The first of SpaceX's Crew missions ferrying astronauts to the orbital outpost on its Dragon capsule began in 2020. Standing nearly 27 feet tall and about 13 feet wide, Dragon capsules can carry up to seven astronauts into orbit, though most of SpaceX's Crew missions feature a crew of four.
The Dragon is also the only U.S. spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts to and from the space station.
For that reason, NASA selected the Dragon to bring home Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the two NASA astronauts who rode the Boeing Starliner capsule to the space station in June 2024 for the vehicle's inaugural human spaceflight test. Certifying the Starliner capsule for operation would eventually give NASA a second vehicle in addition to Dragon for regular human spaceflights to orbit.
Who are the astronauts on the Crew-11 mission?
The Crew-11 mission includes four spacefarers:
Mission commander , a NASA astronaut from Virginia making her first spaceflight
Pilot , a NASA astronaut from Pennsylvania making his fourth trip to space
Mission specialist , a Japanese astronaut with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut making his second trip to the space station
Mission specialist Oleg Platonov, a Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut making his first spaceflight
Crew-11 astronauts reassigned after Boeing Starliner failure
In an interesting twist, Cardman, Fincke and Yui all experienced major spaceflight assignment changes as a result of the Boeing Starliner debacle.
Fincke and Yui were both originally selected to fly on the Starliner's crew rotation mission had the spacecraft's inaugural human flight test in June 2024 been a success. Fincke was also the backup astronaut on a flight test for which Wilmore and Williams were ultimately selected.
As for Cardman, she would have flown on the Crew-9 mission in September 2024 before she and NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson were bumped from the mission. Instead of a full contingent, only NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov traveled to the space station to leave two seats for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight.
The decision was made when NASA opted to undock the troubled Starliner capsule without its crew, leaving Wilmore and Williams in need of a ride home.
When will NASA, SpaceX launch Crew-11 for ISS?
The Crew-10 mission is due to get off the ground no earlier than 12:09 p.m. ET Thursday, July 31, from near Cape Canaveral, Florida, according to NASA.
SpaceX uses its Falcon 9 rocket – one of the most active in the world – to launch the crew missions from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Once in orbit, the SpaceX Dragon capsule that the astronauts are aboard then separates from the rocket, using its own thrusters to continue onto the space station.
When will the Crew-10 astronauts depart space station, return to Earth?
The arrival of Cardman, Fincke, Yui and Platonov will ultimately pave the way for their predecessors, the Crew-10 contingent, to depart the space station and head back to Earth.
NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain arrived March 16 at the station with JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov as part of the Crew-10 mission. That mission made headlines for its role in paving the way for the NASA astronauts who crewed the doomed Boeing Starliner to depart with the Crew-9 mission.
But the Crew-10 astronauts won't leave right away. What follows upon the arrival of any astronauts is a brief handover period in which the new crew members are familiarized with the orbital laboratory and station operations.
McClain, Ayers, Onishi and Peskov will then depart a few days later on the same Dragon capsule that transported them to the space station. Mission teams will also have to review weather conditions off the coast of California, where the Dragon will eventually make a water landing.
Who else is at the International Space Station?
Another three spacefarers are also living and working about the International Space Station as members of Expedition 73.
That includes NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, who reached the outpost in April 2025 with cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky.
Contributing: Brooke Edwards, Florida Today
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is Crew-11? SpaceX astronauts prepare for space station mission
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