The astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission will head to the International Space Station (ISS) today (March 12), if all goes according to plan.
The four spaceflyers will catch a ride on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule “Endurance,” which is set to launch today atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:48 p.m. EDT (2348 GMT).
As its name suggests, Crew-10 will be the 10th operational astronaut mission that SpaceX has flown to the ISS for NASA via the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Let’s meet the Crew-10 quartet, who represent three different nations.
Related: SpaceX Dragon capsule arrives at launch site for Crew-10 astronaut flight to ISS (photos)
Anne McClain (NASA)
Anne McClain
Hailing from Spokane, Washington, Army Col. Anne C. McClain is commander of the Crew-10 mission, which will mark her second trip to space. Previously, McClain served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station for Expeditions 58 and 59 from late 2018 to mid-2019, where she was lead spacewalker on two extravehicular activities (EVAs).
McClain graduated from West Point with a bachelor of science degree, according to her NASA bio. She then went on to earn two master’s degrees in England, from the University of Bath and the University of Bristol, as well as a third master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.
As a Master Army Aviator and Experimental Test Pilot, McClain has logged over 2,000 flight hours in 20 different aircraft. She earned her wings as a helicopter pilot and served 15 months in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where she flew over 800 combat hours on 216 combat missions.
McClain was one of eight members of the 21st NASA astronaut class in 2013, and she completed astronaut candidate training in 2015. Since then, McClain has become an Instructor Astronaut for Robotics, EVA, and CAPCOM (capsule communicator). She’s also served as branch chief and International Space Station Assistant to the Chief within NASA’s Astronaut Office.
Nichole ‘Vapor’ Ayers (NASA)
Nichole ‘Vapor’ Ayers
U.S. Air Force Maj. Nichole “Vapor” Ayers is Crew-10’s pilot. NASA selected Ayers as part of the 2021 astronaut candidate class. She then completed two years of initial astronaut training. This is the major’s first mission to space.
After growing up in Colorado, Ayers earned a mathematics degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, according to her NASA bio. She went on to earn a master’s degree in mathematics from Rice University in Houston, where she focused on modeling incompressible fluid flow.
After completing pilot training in 2014, Ayers began flying the T-38A, a high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer, in an adversary squadron, where she led missions to provide combat training for F-22 Raptors. Ayers also became an F-22 instructor pilot.
During Operation Inherent Resolve, Ayers flew more than 200 combat hours over Iraq and Syria. In total, she’s notched over 1,400 total flight hours in the T-38 (across four different variants) and the F-22 Raptor. Ayers served as the assistant director of operations in the 90th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska before NASA selected her as an astronaut candidate.
Takuya Onishi (JAXA)
Takuya Onishi
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi is a mission specialist for Crew-10. Onishi previously served as a flight engineer for Expeditions 48 and 49 in 2016, during which he clocked 113 days in space and became the first Japanese astronaut to capture the private Cygnus cargo spacecraft, according to NASA.
Onishi earned a degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Tokyo. Previously, he worked as a pilot for Japan’s All Nippon Airways, where he flew over 3,700 flight hours in a Boeing 767. Aside from his work on the ISS, Onishi also participated in the 15th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations mission, in which NASA sends astronauts, engineers and scientists to live in Aquarius, an underwater research station, according to his JAXA bio.
Kirill Peskov (Roscosmos)
Kirill Peskov
Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, is Crew-10’s second mission specialist. This will be his first spaceflight. Peskov earned an engineering degree from the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation School in Ulyanovsk, Russia, according to NASA.
Before his assignment as a test cosmonaut in 2020, Peskov worked as a co-pilot for two Russian airlines, Nordwind and Ikar, on the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft. Peshov’s other experience includes skydiving, zero-gravity training, scuba diving and wilderness survival.
Crew-10 is expected to arrive at the ISS on Thursday (March 13). The quartet will relieve the Crew-9 astronauts, who will head back to Earth a few days later.
Coming down on the Crew-9 Dragon “Freedom” will be NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, as well as cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Hague and Gorbunov flew up on Freedom in late September; Williams and Wilmore arrived at the ISS in June on the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which was supposed to last just 10 days or so.
Starliner suffered problems with its thrusters, however, which extended the duo’s orbital stay. NASA eventually decided to bring Starliner home uncrewed and put Williams and Wilmore on Crew-9, which launched with just two astronauts to accommodate the Starliner pair on the way home.
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