NASA crew readies for ISS mission launch on Thursday
July 26 (UPI) -- An international crew of four is readying for Thursday's planned launch of a NASA mission to the International Space Station after arriving at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency specialist Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov will travel from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A to the ISS while aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour.
Cardman is the mission's leader. The crew landed at Space Florida's Launch and Landing Facility at 1:12 EDT after leaving from Houston on Saturday morning.
"We are absolutely joyed to be here at Kennedy Space Center," Cardman said upon the crew's landing.
"This is the first moment when it's really starting to feel real," she said. "This is the beginning of a week when things will feel progressively more and more real as we approach our launch."
Mission pilot Fincke said the mission gives him another chance to fly aboard a spacecraft named Endeavour.
"One of the last times I landed at the [Florida launch and landing facility] was on space shuttle Endeavour," Fincke told media.
"Now we get to go on another endeavor - a Dragon Endeavour," he said.
The Endeavour name honors the HMS Endeavour, which British Capt. James Cook used to explore and chart the South Pacific from 1768 to 1771.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will deliver the Endeavor into low Earth orbit, which will make the Crew Dragon spacecraft the most flown among SpaceX's fleet.
Thursday's launch is scheduled at 12:09 p.m. EDT and would enable the Endeavor to dock at the ISS on Aug. 2 if the launch occurs as planned.
The four crew members will join Expedition 73, which already is at the ISS.
An Expedition 74 crew is scheduled to replace the Expedition 73 crew while the Crew 11 team is at the ISS.
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