NASA astronauts arrive at Kennedy Space Center ahead of upcoming SpaceX launch to ISS

On a hot summer afternoon, a crew of astronauts arrived at Kennedy Space Center sporting their blue NASA flight suits -- ready to fly to the International Space Station this coming week.

As the NASA Gulfstream aircraft rolled to a stop at the Space Florida Landing Facility, the four crew members of Crew-11 exited and proceeded toward the waiting media.

NASA astronautsZena Cardman andMike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronautKimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov will launch to the space station no earlier than 12:09 p.m. July 31. The crew will travel in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

"I've been on different crews before, but this one is exceptional," said Finke, who will be the mission pilot.

"We've been training together for over a year now, and we're ready to fly," added Cardman, who will serve as commander.

It will be Cardman's first spaceflight. Cardman was originally scheduled to fly in 2024 as part of Crew-9, but was reassigned to allow room on the Crew-9 SpaceX Dragon for the return of Starliner Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams. Wilmore and Williams were assigned to serve as part of Crew-9 after their Starliner spacecraft malfunctioned during its June 2024 flight test -- a mission which, had it been successful, would have certified the spacecraft to ferry NASA astronauts alongside SpaceX's Dragon.

"I'm so honored to be here with the crew, and taking part in this long history of human spaceflight," said Cardman.

The crew will be part of Expedition 73, and will be onboard the outpost for the station's 25th anniversary. The International Space Station saw its first long duration crew in November 2000.

While this is also the first spaceflight for the Russian cosmonaut, the other two crew members bring experience. It will be former shuttle astronaut Finke's fourth spaceflight and the second for Yui.

"It's great to be back," said Finke. "One of the last times I landed at the SLF (shuttle landing facility) was on a space shuttle."

Finke was fortunate enough to see the space station's early days, serving as part of Expedition 9 back in 2004. His last spaceflight was on the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavor, STS-134, in 2011.

Now Finke will be flying on another Endeavor -- SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavor.

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SpaceX Dragon launching NASA Crew-11

According to SpaceX, the Dragon spacecraft that will launch this crew has already arrived at the launch pad hangar, where it will be mounted to the Falcon 9 rocket.

It will be SpaceX Dragon Endeavor's sixth flight. NASA recently went through a recertification process with SpaceX to allow the company to go beyond the previously certified five flights per capsule. Steve Stich, program manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, told media during a July press briefing that NASA is eventually aiming to certify each SpaceX Dragon for up to 15 flights.

Endeavor is the same Dragon spacecraft which launched DEMO-2 in 2020. DEMO-2 was the first orbital launch of astronauts from America since the retirement of the space shuttle, and the flight which certified the Dragon to ferry NASA astronauts.

"I still remember watching that last shuttle launch, STS-135, sitting in a conference room with a very small Dragon team at the time, and it was my first few days here. And I remember looking at the faces around and thinking 'Today we begin. The world is counting on us to write the next chapter of human spaceflight,'" Sarah Walker, director of SpaceX Dragon missions, said during the July press briefing.

Once Crew-11 arrives at the International Space Station, NASA's Crew-10 will prepare to return to Earth. Crew-10 will be the first NASA crew to splashdown in a Dragon on the West Coast. SpaceX moved recovery operations to California earlier this year.

Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her [email protected] on X:@brookeofstars.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: NASA's Crew-11 astronauts arrive in Florida ahead of upcoming launch