NASA Sets Briefings for Next International Space Station Crew Missions

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will host a pair of news conferences Tuesday, July 25, at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston to highlight upcoming crew rotations missions to the International Space Station.

The briefings will cover NASA's SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the space station, currently targeted to launch Tuesday, Aug. 15, for a science mission aboard the microgravity laboratory.

The mission overview news conference will begin at 12:30 p.m. EDT, and a crew news conference will start at 2 p.m. Both briefings will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website. The crew also will be available for individual interviews at 3:30 p.m.

The Crew-7 mission will carry NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos.

In addition to the Crew-7 participants, NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara also will participate in the crew briefing and interviews. Following a month later, O'Hara will launch to the space station on Sept. 15 for a mission with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub.  

For the Crew-7 mission, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft will launch from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the company's seventh crew rotation mission for NASA. O'Hara will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

This event will be the final media opportunity to speak to the Crew-7 astronauts before they travel to NASA Kennedy for launch. Media wishing to participate in person or seeking a remote interview with the crew must request credentials no later than 5 p.m. Friday, July 21, from the NASA Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111 or [email protected].

International media without U.S. citizenship wishing to participate in person must apply by 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 12. U.S. media and U.S. citizens representing international media must apply by 5 p.m. Friday, July 21. Media must request credentials from the Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111 or [email protected].

Media interested in participating by phone must contact the Johnson newsroom by 9:45 a.m. the day of the event.

Briefing participants include (all times eastern):

12:30 p.m.: Mission Overviews News Conference

• Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington
• Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA Johnson
• Joel Montalbano, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA Johnson
• Frank De Winne, manager, International Space Station Program, ESA
• Hiroshi Sasaki, vice president and director general, Human Space Flight Technology Directorate, JAXA

2 p.m.: Crews News Conference

• Loral O'Hara, NASA astronaut, Soyuz MS-24 flight engineer
• Jasmin Moghbeli, NASA astronaut, Crew-7 spacecraft commander
• Andreas Mogensen, ESA astronaut, Crew-7 pilot
• Satoshi Furukawa, JAXA astronaut, Crew-7 mission specialist
• Konstantin Borisov, Roscosmos cosmonaut, Crew-7 mission specialist

3:30 p.m.: Crews Individual Interview Opportunities

• Crew-7 members and O'Hara available for a limited number of interviews

O'Hara is making her first spaceflight after selection as part of the 2017 NASA astronaut class. The Texas native earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and a Master of Science degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Prior to joining NASA, her work focused on the engineering and operations of deep-ocean research submersibles and robots. At the time of her selection in June 2017, O'Hara was a research engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where she spent eight years working on the engineering and operations of underwater vehicles such as the human-occupied research submersible Alvin and the remotely operated vehicle Jason. She will join Expedition 69/70 as a flight engineer aboard the space station. Follow @lunarloral on Twitter.

This is Moghbeli's first trip into space since her selection as a NASA astronaut in 2017. The New York native earned a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering with information technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Master of Science in aerospace engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Moghbeli, a helicopter and Marine Corps test pilot, has more than 150 combat missions and 2,000 hours of flight time in over 25 different aircraft. She also is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland. As mission commander, she will be responsible for all phases of flight, from launch to re-entry. She will serve as an Expedition 69/70 flight engineer aboard the station. Follow @astrojaws on Twitter.

Mogensen was selected as an ESA astronaut in 2009 and became the first Danish citizen in space after launching aboard a Soyuz for a 10-day mission to the space station in 2015. As pilot on Crew-7, he will be responsible for spacecraft systems and performance. Aboard the station, he will serve as an Expedition 69/70 flight engineer.

Mogensen is from Copenhagen, Denmark. He completed undergraduate studies and received a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from Imperial College London in England before gaining his doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Mogensen has since served as a crew member for NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) missions 17 and 19. Mogensen was the European astronaut liaison officer to NASA Johnson from 2016-2022, working as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) for astronauts aboard the station and as ground support for spacewalks, relaying tasks, and direction from mission control to the spacewalkers. Follow @astro_andreas on Twitter.

Furukawa will be making his second trip to space, having spent 165 days aboard the space station as part of Expeditions 28/29 in 2011. Furukawa is from Kanagawa, Japan, and was selected as a JAXA astronaut in 1999. He is a physician and received his medical degree from the University of Tokyo, and later a doctorate in medical science from the same university. Furukawa served as a crewmember on the 13th NEEMO mission, and later, was appointed head of JAXA's Space Biomedical Research Group. Aboard the station, he will become a flight engineer for Expedition 69/70. Follow @astro_satoshi on Twitter.

Borisov will be making his first trip to space, and will also serve as a mission specialist, working to monitor the spacecraft during the dynamic launch and entry phases of flight. He entered the Roscosmos Cosmonaut Corps as a test cosmonaut candidate in 2018 and will serve as a flight engineer for Expedition 69/70.

Prior to the crew briefings, on Monday, July 24, NASA Johnson also will host a media day to preview the arrival of the first U.S. asteroid sample collected in space and introduce the team that will help unlock its secrets in the OSIRIS-REx Sample Curation Laboratory.

Learn more about how NASA innovates for the benefit of humanity through NASA's Commercial Crew Program at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

SOURCE NASA