Three astronauts to serve as crew members for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission, Raja Chari to serve as commander

NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) have selected three astronauts; Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Maurer to serve as crew members for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station, which is expected to launch in the fall of 2021. This will be the first spaceflight for Chari. He was selected earlier this month as a member of the Artemis Team.

NASA, Washington:The trio will consist of NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Tom Marshburn, who will serve as commander and pilot, respectively, and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, who will serve as a mission specialist. A fourth crew member will be added at a later date, following a review by NASA and its international partners

This will be the first spaceflight for Chari, who became a NASA astronaut in 2017

He is a colonel in the U.S. Air Force and joins the mission with extensive experience as a test pilot. He has accumulated more than 2,500 hours of flight time in his career. Chari was selected earlier this month as a member of the Artemis Team and is now eligible for assignment to a future lunar mission.

Marshburn is a Statesville, North Carolina, native who became an astronaut in 2004. Prior to serving in the astronaut corps, the medical doctor served as a flight surgeon at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and later became medical operations lead for the International Space Station.

Marshburn previously served as a crew member of STS-127 in 2009 and Expedition 34/35, which concluded in 2013.

Maurer comes from Sankt Wendel, in the German state of Saarland. Like Chari, Maurer will be making his first trip to space with the Crew-3 mission. Before becoming an astronaut, Maurer held a number of engineering and research roles, both in a university setting and at ESA. In 2016, Maurer spent 16 days on an undersea mission as part of NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO, space analog.

When Chari, Marshburn, and Maurer arrive at the orbiting laboratory, they will become expedition crew members for the duration of their six-month stay.

This will be the third crew rotation mission of SpaceX’s human space transportation system and its fourth flight with astronauts.

(NASA)