Astronaut and USD graduate to guide Crew-8 on 6-month ISS mission

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — After a scrubbed launch Saturday, Crew-8 blasted into area Sunday evening on their solution to the Worldwide Area Station (ISS). Main the mission is NASA Astronaut and College of San Diego (USD) Shiley-Marcos College of Engineering alumnus Matthew Dominick.

SpaceX’s Falcon rocket blasted off from Florida’s Kennedy Area Middle, carrying NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin to switch the crew that has been there since August, the Related Press reviews.

Dominick, who studied electrical engineering at USD, is the commander of Crew-8, which can spend six months aboard the ISS.

The brand new crew’s half a 12 months ISS keep will embody the arrival of two NASA rocketships. Whereas there, the crew will conduct a number of scientific experiments and upkeep on the station.

The experiments can be geared toward making ready for human exploration past low Earth orbit, in accordance with NASA. Experiments embody a research of mind organoids to grasp neurodegenerative problems, shifts in physique fluids throughout spaceflight, and the results of UV radiation and microgravity on plant development, only a few of the greater than 200 science experiments and know-how demonstrations that may happen throughout their mission.

Dominick graduated from USD in 2005. He then earned a grasp’s from Naval Postgraduate
College, later graduating from U.S. Naval Check Pilot College.

He has greater than 1,600 hours of flight time and is a part of the NASA Artemis program.

“You possibly can design essentially the most unbelievable factor on the planet, however when you can’t talk it and relate it to different individuals, when you don’t have an understanding of various cultures and religions and the place completely different individuals come from, the factor that you simply constructed won’t ever go wherever,” Dominick mentioned throughout a 2022 go to to USD’s campus.

The crew of 4 reached orbit Sunday night after a profitable launch, NASA reviews.

“Congratulations to NASA and SpaceX on one other profitable launch to the Worldwide Area Station! On this eighth crew rotation mission, we’re as soon as once more displaying the power of our industrial partnerships and American ingenuity that may propel us additional within the cosmos,” mentioned NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson. “Aboard the station, the crew will conduct greater than 200 science experiments and know-how demonstrations to assist gas this new period of area exploration and profit humanity right here on Earth.”

Matthew Dominick is the commander for Crew-8. NASA says this marks his first spaceflight since his choice as an astronaut in 2017.

Michael Barratt is the Crew-8 pilot on his third go to to the area station. Jeanette Epps is a mission specialist for Crew-8 on her first spaceflight. Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, on his first mission, will function a flight engineer. 

NASA will present stay protection of the Endeavour docking and the hatch opening, starting at 1 a.m., Tuesday, March 5, on NASA+, NASA Tv, the NASA app, YouTube, and the company’s web site.