Crew-3 astronauts complete full dress rehearsal ahead of NASA-SpaceX Oct 31 launch

All four astronauts preparing for the NASA-SpaceX Crew-3 mission completed a full dress rehearsal ahead of the launch today on October 29. The team of four is scheduled to head for the International Space Station (ISS) on October 31 aboard a SpaceX rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Just recently, the Crew-3 astronauts came out of a mandatory quarantine as part of the launch preparations. 

Astronauts' full dress rehearsal concludes

The Crew-3 team of astronauts comprises- NASA astronauts Raja Chari, pilot Tom Marshburn, mission specialist Kayla Barron as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer and the trip to the ISS will be led by Chari. In the rehearsal conducted by Space and NASA, all four astronauts donned the sparkling white spacesuits designed by SpaceX and rode the Dragon spacecraft. Conducting such rehearsals is essential to confirm the proper functioning of the mission hardware as well as for making the astronauts familiar with spacecraft which has been named 'Endurance' for this flight. 

Earlier, the astronauts completed the final leg of their training where they underwent checks regarding leakage in spacesuits if any and adjusted the spacecraft into launch position. Currently, at the launch site, the astronauts made it to the final stages of the mission after undergoing nearly two weeks of quarantine to ensure they remain healthy before meeting the astronauts already aboard the ISS.

Falcon rocket rolls out to launch pad with mounted 'Endurance' 

SpaceX has concluded the final rehearsals while the Falcon 9 rocket is standing tall at the launch complex with the spacecraft 'Endurance' mounted over it. Yesterday, SpaceX also successfully conducted the static fire test of the rocket warming the engines for the launch. The agency shared the pictures of the magnificent-looking rocket on Twitter. Take a look.

'Endurance': A tribute to human tenacity

Astronaut Raja Chari, who is also the mission commander, revealed that they have named the spacecraft carrying them to the ISS, 'Endurance'. "Endurance is a tribute to the tenacity of the human spirit, as we push humans and machines farther than we ever have” and is “also a nod to the fact that the development teams, the production teams the training teams that got us here have endured through a pandemic", Chari had said in a video clip. 

As for the mission, it is SpaceX's third and NASA's fourth crew mission with the Elon Musk-owned entity that will carry the aforementioned astronauts to space and bring back Crew-2 astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur of NASA, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, Japanese Space Agency's (JAXA) Akihiko Hoshide from the ISS. 

Image: SpaceX