Indian-American Astronaut Raja Chari All Set For First Spaceflight, As Part Of NASA SpaceX Crew-3 Mission
Indian-American astronaut Raja Chari is all set for his first spaceflight, with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission preparing to take four astronauts to the International Space Station later this month.
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Chari will be the commander of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and the Crew-3 mission, “responsible for all phases of flight, from launch to re-entry”, NASA said.
The other three astronauts accompanying Chari will be Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron and European Space Agency’s Matthias Maurer. The mission aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch Saturday, October 30, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the space agency said.
NASA has called a press briefing on Wednesday to present an overview of the SpaceX Crew-3 mission and discuss the ISS crew rotation. A second briefing the same day will have all four astronauts answering media queries.NASA said this will be the final opportunity for the media to speak to the crew before they fly to Florida to prepare for the launch.
Who Is Raja Chari?
Chari, who became a NASA astronaut in 2017, will serve as an Expedition 66 flight engineer aboard the International Space Station, according to NASA.
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He was born in Milwaukee, to an Indian immigrant father and Iowa native mother, but was raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa, which he considers his hometown.
A colonel in the US Air Force, Chari has “extensive experience as a test pilot” — more than 2,500 hours of flight time in the F-35, F-15, F-16, and F-18, including F-15E combat missions in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was also deployed in support of the Korean peninsula.
