(WHTM) – A Pennsylvania native will be part of a four-person crew flying on the next SpaceX Dragon launch.
NASA says Allegheny County native and veteran astronaut Mike Fincke will make his fourth trip to the International Space Station on a SpaceX flight scheduled for this summer.
The SpaceX Crew-11 mission will take Fincke, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov from the Kennedy Space Center to the ISS.
The crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket in either late July or early August. NASA says the crew will “conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future missions to the Moon, as well as benefit people on Earth.”
Fincke has logged 382 days in space and nine spacewalks in his first three missions, the last of which was in 2011. The commander on Fincke’s last mission was astronaut Mark Kelly, who now serves in the United States Senate.
KUSTANAI, KAZAKHSTAN: US astronaut Mike Fincke (R) and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka (C) and Yuri Shargin (L) shake hands after their press conference in Kustanai, 24 October 2004 shortly after their landing aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-4 space capsule. AFP PHOTO/ ALEXANDER NEMENOV (Photo credit should read ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images)
Space shuttle commander Mark Kelly, left, and astronaut Mike Fincke, wave Friday, April 29, 2011, as they walkout headed to board shuttle Endeavour. A few minutes later NASA scrubbed the launch due to mechanical problems on the orbitor. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – SEPTEMBER 16: Astronaut Mike Fincke speaks during a NASA press conference at the Kennedy Space Center on September 16, 2014 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA announced the return of human spaceflight launches to the United States. (Photo by Gerardo Mora/Getty Images)
Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka,left, and astronaut Mike Fincke replace the faulty circuit breaker located on the Truss of the International space station during a televised spacewalk Wednesday, June 30, 2004.Padalka and Fincke will replace the circuit breaker that will restore power to one of four gyroscopes that help orient the station.(AP Photo/NASA TV)This will be Platonov’s and Cardman’s first spaceflight, while Tui has made one previous trip to space. The crew is scheduled to return to Earth in 2026.
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