WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, left, Kathy Lueders, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, center, and Phil McAlister, NASA’s director of commercial spaceflight, watch as NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur are seen on monitors as they prepare to board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft for launch, Friday, April 23, 2021, in firing room four of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the second crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Kimbrough, McArthur, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide launched at 5:49 a.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.