NASA targeting October 31 for launch of SpaceX Crew-3 mission to space station

The Crew-3 astronauts include mission commander Raja Chari, pilot Tom Marshburn, mission specialist Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency (ESA), also a mission specialist. The astronauts will launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA said on Tuesday it is planning to launch the SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station as early as Sunday, October 31. This will be the third crew rotation mission on SpaceX's human space transportation system and its fourth flight with astronauts.

The Crew-3 astronauts include mission commander Raja Chari, pilot Tom Marshburn, mission specialist Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency (ESA), also a mission specialist. The astronauts will launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This will be the first spaceflight for Barron Chari and Maurer while it will be the third spaceflight for Marshburn, who was a crew member of the space shuttle STS-127 mission in 2009 and Expedition 34/35 aboard the space station, which concluded in 2013.

The crew will have a slight overlap with the Crew-2 astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who arrived at the station in April 2021.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting the return home of Crew-2 astronauts in the early-to-mid November timeframe while Crew-3 astronauts will return to Earth in late April 2022, following a handover with Crew-4.

The Crew-4 mission is targeted to launch no earlier than April 15, 2022, with NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren with Bob Hines as pilots, Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA as a mission specialist. The remaining crew members are yet to be named.