At 11:53 Beijing time on March 4, 2024 (Beijing time), the Falcon 9 carrier rocket carrying the CREW-8 "Dragon" manned spacecraft was launched from the LC-39A station at the Kennedy Space Center. According to the plan, the spacecraft will dock at the forward port of the node module of the International Space Station "Harmony" at 16:00 on March 5.
From left: Grey Benkin, Bharat, Dominic, Ips.
The crew-8 mission crew consisted of four astronauts from the United States and Russia, including mission commander Matthew Dominick, pilot Michael Barratt, mission specialist Jeanette Epps, and mission specialist Alexandr Grebenkin, including Dominic who is an active member of the U.S. Navy.
Matthew Dominick
Matthew Dominick was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2017 and this mission was his first flight. Originally from Wheatridge, Colorado, Dominic earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, San Diego and a master's degree in systems engineering from the Naval Graduate School in Monterey, California. He is an active-duty U.S. Navy astronaut who graduated from the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School near the Patucente River in Maryland and then worked as a test pilot specializing in testing the landing and catapult take-off of aircraft carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers.
Due to the particularity of manned spaceflight, the development process of the world's manned spaceflight since its inception has been deeply integrated with the military, the support systems such as space launch sites have military attributes, and a large number of astronauts have military backgrounds, which is especially true in the early stage of the development of manned spaceflight. As the United States continues to promote the militarization of space and promote the construction of the Space Force, more active-duty military personnel of the United States will enter space and be stationed on the manned space station after Dominica.
Author: Mulan Xingzhou.