NASA astronaut Raja Chari (former pilot), Tom marshburn (Doctor) and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer have been assigned to take the SpaceX manned dragon spacecraft to the international space station in the autumn of 2021.

NASA said that after a review with its international partners, the fourth astronaut candidate will be announced later. The four will take part in SpaceX's third commercial manned mission crew-3, launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the autumn of 2021, and stay on the international space station until the spring of 2022.

According to speculation, crew-3's fourth astronaut may come from Russia. Kathy Lueders, head of NASA's manned space program, has previously revealed that NASA and Roscosmos' goal is to finalize a fee free agreement for Russian astronauts to travel to the international space station in U.S. spacecraft and continue to launch U.S. astronauts in Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

If the agreement is signed, it will help to ensure that the Russian module and the US module on the space station always have trained astronauts, and even problems with the Soyuz, the manned dragon spacecraft or the Boeing Starline spacecraft will not affect it. Luther said last month that the agreement could be reached before SpaceX's third commercial manned mission next fall, while the Russian Soyuz feichuang would be launched within the same time frame.

NASA said that the third commercial manned mission of SpaceX will be conducted by Raja Chari. Charlie, 43, a former Air Force Colonel, will begin his first space trip on the crew-3 mission. Prior to being selected as NASA astronaut in 2017, Charlie had carried out F-15E combat missions in Iraq, served as commander of the 461st flight test squadron and director of the F-35 integrated test unit.

SpaceX manned dragon spacecraft carrying the first commercial astronauts close to the International Space Station

Senior astronaut Mashburn, 60, is a doctor of medicine. After becoming an emergency doctor, Mashburn joined NASA as a flight surgeon and provided support to astronauts flying on the Russian Mir space station, many shuttle missions and the staff of the international space station.

NASA chose Mashburn as an astronaut in 2004 and performed STS-127 mission on the space shuttle Endeavor as a mission expert in July 2009. Mashbourne's second space mission was a long-term stay at the international space station, during which he was always aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. In two previous missions, Mashburn has been in space for 161 days.

Maurer, 50, will join the crew-3 mission as a mission expert. He is from sunktwendel in salland, Germany, and is also in space for the first time. In 2015, the European Space Agency selected him as an astronaut. Maurer graduated from the Institute of materials science of Aachen Polytechnic University in Germany with a doctorate in materials science and engineering, and began to work as a crew support engineer at ESA in 2010.

The six-month space exploration of Charlie, mashbourne and Maurer will overlap with the crew-2 mission for several days or weeks, which will be launched in the spring of 2021 to replace crew-1 mission personnel currently stationed on the international space station. (small)

Source: Netease technology report, translated by Baidu