NASA announces the crew for next mission to space

NASA announces the crew for next mission to space

The American space agency NASA still has to get rid of all the security issues related to the Space Shuttle fleet. However, they are continuing with their plans with some help from Russia and have announced the crew for the upcoming mission to space aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. NASA announced a two-man crew for this mission, which would go to space mid-March.

Veteran cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov who works for Russia’s Federal Space Agency would be commanding this mission along with U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams. Williams would be serving as both the flight engineer and NASA science officer. The mission is named ISS Expedition 13 and it would also be carrying Brazilian Air Force Lt. Col. Marcos Pontes. Pontes would thus become the first astronaut from the South American nation.

Pontes would also be involved in carrying out experiments aboard the ISS before returning to Earth with the station’s current crew. The crew would be on the international space station when the next window for a possible launch of Space Shuttle opens up. However, that mission is still not confirmed considering NASA is still working on solving the problems with the shuttle fuel tank.