--- title: "NASA Announces Crew For Upcoming SpaceX Mission" description: "NASA has assigned crew members for its Crew-2 mission, possibly the third time a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft will visit the ISS with astronauts on board." date: "2020-07-28" modified: "2020-07-28" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-announces-crew-2-spacex-crew-dragon" categories: - "NASA" - "Space" - "SpaceX" tags: - "crew dragon" - "iss" - "NASA" - "SpaceX" - "the digest" --- # NASA Announces Crew For Upcoming SpaceX Mission ![NASA has assigned crew members for its Crew-2 mission, possibly the third time a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft will visit the ISS with astronauts on board.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Motley Crew NASA has [officially assigned]() crew members for its Crew-2 mission, which aims to be the [third time]() a SpaceX [Crew Dragon]() spacecraft will visit the International Space Station (ISS) with astronauts on board as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. On Crew-1, [tentatively scheduled]() for late September, NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Michael Hopkins, and Victor Glover will be joined by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Soichi Noguchi. The four [were picked by NASA for the mission]() in late March. For Crew-2, Shane Kimbrough, a NASA astronaut who has visited space twice before, will be joined by Megan McArthur, who has also been to space, but not the space station. The pair will be the commander and pilot, respectively. The mission will also be JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide's third trip to space, alongside ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, the pair will join Kimbrough and McArthur as mission specialists. Hoshide has been aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 2008 and has been part of two ISS expeditions. Pesquet was part of two later expeditions and has spent 196 days in space total. The four astronauts have spent over a combined 521 days in space. ## Demo Tape The news comes just days before NASA will attempt to return SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule from the ISS as part of the Demo-2 mission, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board, [this coming weekend](). SpaceX [made history]() on May 30 when it became the first group in history to launch astronauts into orbit inside a commercial spacecraft. An official launch date for Crew-2 has not yet been announced, but according to NASA, it will likely be no sooner than spring 2021. **READ MORE:** [NASA Announces Astronauts to Fly on SpaceX Crew-2 Mission to Space Station]() \[NASA\] **More on Demo-2:** *[NASA Just Picked a Date for SpaceX to Bring Back Its Astronauts]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()