Kennedy Space Center – The next four people in the SpaceX parade will be released by Space Coast. It will fly to the International Space Station at its release just after noon on Thursday.
The Crew-11 mission, flying on the Falcon 9 rocket, will be lifted from KSC’s launch pad 39-A at 12:09 pm, carrying NASA astronauts and commanders Zena Cardman, Nasa astronauts Mike Fink, and Jakusa (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronauts Kimiya Yui and Ros Cosmos Cosmonato Oleg Platonov.
Arriving at KSC on Saturday, the quartet is riding the efforts of the Crew Dragon to make their sixth space trip to lead the fleet. They wore the spaceship at the Neil Armstrong Operation & Checkout Building after 8am before getting on the strike and launchpad. Their black Teslas for ride-out features individual license plates that read “live”, “laughing”, “release”. The quartet slammed the road to the pad just before 9am.
The crew were tied to the spaceship less than 30 minutes later.
“This is a very important mission,” said NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stitch at a Flight Readiness press conference on Thursday. “We worked very hard with SpaceX to complete all the reuse activities of this vehicle. The vehicle (dragon) was certified on only five flights. Now we have completed all of that work.
The first SpaceX astronauts flew in 2020 were dragons of the same crew and part of the dragon stable, now available to five crew members. With the launch of the Crew-11, SpaceX will fly 74 people on 19 missions over five years.
The first phase booster of this mission is to make a third flight, aiming for the final use of SpaceX in Landing Zone 1 at the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX is Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Indian River, Seminole, Volusia, Polk, and St. It warns that one or more sonic booms may be heard in parts of central Florida, including Lucie and Okeechobee County. The final use of the landing zone during launch of the Axiom Space Ax-4 was reported to be a boom that could be heard all the way to Lake County.
The Space-released Delta 45 weather squadron is predicted 90% of the time for good condition at launch sites, and the weather is predicted to be within safety margins along the rising corridor off the US East Coast, which needs to be good during pregnancy in emergencies. There will be a backup option on August 1-3, but the weather will be the worst along that corridor in the coming days.
After the lift-off, the crew travelled 39 hours to the space station, planning a docking trip around 3am on Saturday. They go to release 10 members of crew who have been on board since mid-March but are not appointed until they complete a short handover period until the space station population increases from 7 to 11.
Crew-11 has been at the station for at least six months, but NASA was able to expand its mission in around eight months.
For the members, Cardman and Platonov are rookies, but Yui is on his second trip to the station ten years ago. Finikke made his fourth space trip to the station as part of the STS-134, and his previous two missions at the Soyuz Space Raft.
The four members of the crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025, ahead of this week’s start to the International Space Station. From left, NASA astronauts and commander Zena Cardman, NASA astronauts and pilot Michael Finke, Jakusa astronauts Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos Cosnot Oleg Platonov are accompanied by the translators. (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel)
NASA astronaut and pilot Michael Finke gives handoff waves to NASA astronaut and commander Zena Cardman, left, Roscosmos Kosmov and Commander Oleg Platonov, Jakusa astronaut Kimiya Yu. (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel)
The four members of the crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025, ahead of this week’s start to the International Space Station. From left, NASA astronauts and commander Zena Cardman, NASA astronauts and pilot Michael Finke, Jakusa astronauts Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos Cosnot Oleg Platonov are accompanied by the translators. (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel)
Four members of the crew will be climbing from the plane prior to their start to the International Space Station this week after arriving at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025. Roscosmos Cosmonaut Oleg Platonov leads, followed by Jaxa Astronut Kimiya Yui, NASA Astronaut and Pilot Michael Fincke, and finally from left to right are NASA astronaut and commander Xena Cardman. (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel)
He grows a bunny ear behind Roscosmos Cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, taking photos with NASA astronaut Michael Finke, right, crewmate of Crew 11, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman and Jakusa Asternat Kimiya Yu. (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel)
NASA astronaut and pilot Michael Finke arrived at the space station on April 26th, when Jakusa astronaut Kimiya Yui arrived at the space station after they and their fellow crew, NASA astronaut, Commander Xena Cardman and Roscosmos Cosmonate Oleg Platonov. (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel)
NASA astronaut Michael Finke talks about how he began ald after arriving at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025, going to the space that caused laughs from Jakusa astronaut Kimiya Yui. (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel)
A four-person crew member of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station train on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in Hawthorne, California. From left to right: Roscosmos Cosonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA Astronuts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, and Jaxa Astronaut Kimiya Yui. (Courtesy/spacex)
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The four members of the crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, July 26, 2025, ahead of this week’s start to the International Space Station. From left, NASA astronauts and commander Zena Cardman, NASA astronauts and pilot Michael Finke, Jakusa astronauts Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos Cosnot Oleg Platonov are accompanied by the translators. (Richard Toribou/Orlando Sentinel)
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The Cardman was originally tapped to command the Crew 9 mission, but collided after NASA needed the space on board to allow for return flights to the two Boeing Starliner astronauts left at the station when the spacecraft was sent home without crew due to safety concerns.
Both Fincke and Yui were trained to fly Starliner’s future crew missions, but were moved to this SpaceX mission as Boeing’s plagued spacecraft continues to face delays.
Upon arriving at the station, the Orbital Laboratory welcomes 290 people from 26 countries. The station records human presence for 25 years in November, when Expedition 1 began in 2020. The crew will be expedition 73 when they arrive as part of the expedition 74, which begins in November, when the next exchange crew from Russia arrives.
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Original issue: July 31, 2025 6:40am EDT
