The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate will be a commander for a SpaceX mission to the International Space Station.
According to NASA, Zena Cardman, a UNC graduate and current astronaut, will serve as the commander for the Crew 11 mission set to depart for the ISS later between late July and early August.
The mission will carry Cardman, along with NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, to the orbiting laboratory on the ISS.
The crew will leave aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, along with the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.
Cardman was initially supposed to go to the ISS as a member of Crew 9 on Expedition 71 and Expedition 72 with NASA in 2024, but NASA later reassigned her to Crew-11.
Two members of Crew 9, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were later stranded on the ISS due to an issue with the Boeing Starliner rocket that took them into space.
Source link
