The astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission will head to the International Cosmos Station (ISS) today (March 12), if all goes according to plan.
The four spaceflyers will catch a ride on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule “Endurance,” which is set to Initiation today atop a Falcon 9 Cosmos launcher from NASA’s Kennedy Cosmos Middle in Florida at 7:48 p.m. EDT (2348 GMT).
As its name suggests, Crew-10 will be the 10th operational Cosmos traveler mission that SpaceX has flown to the ISS for NASA via the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Let’s meet the Crew-10 quartet, who represent three different nations.
Anne McClain (NASA)
Anne McClain
Hailing from Spokane, Washington, Army Col. Anne C. McClain is commander of the Crew-10 mission, which will mark her second trip to Cosmos. Previously, McClain served as a flight engineer on the International Cosmos Station for Expeditions 58 and 59 from Delayed 2018 to mid-2019, where she was lead spacewalker on two extravehicular activities (EVAs).
McClain graduated from West Mark with a bachelor of science degree, according to her NASA bio. She then went on to earn two master’s degrees in England, from the University of Bath and the University of Bristol, as well as a third master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.
As a Master Army Aviator and Experimental Test Pilot, McClain has logged over 2,000 flight hours in 20 different aircraft. She earned her wings as a helicopter pilot and served 15 months in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where she flew over 800 combat hours on 216 combat missions.
McClain was one of eight members of the 21st NASA Cosmos traveler class in 2013, and she completed Cosmos traveler candidate Practice in 2015. Since then, McClain has become an Instructor Cosmos traveler for Robotics, EVA, and CAPCOM (capsule communicator). She’s also served as branch chief and International Cosmos Station Assistant to the Chief within NASA’s Cosmos traveler Office.
Nichole ‘Vapor’ Ayers (NASA)
Nichole ‘Vapor’ Ayers
U.S. Air Force Maj. Nichole “Vapor” Ayers is Crew-10’s pilot. NASA selected Ayers as part of the 2021 Cosmos traveler candidate class. She then completed two years of Primary Cosmos traveler Practice. This is the major’s Primary mission to Cosmos.
After growing up in Colorado, Ayers earned a mathematics degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, according to her NASA bio. She went on to earn a master’s degree in mathematics from Rice University in Houston, where she focused on modeling incompressible fluid flow.
After completing pilot Practice in 2014, Ayers began flying the T-38A, a high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer, in an adversary squadron, where she Guided missions to provide combat Practice for F-22 Raptors. Ayers also became an F-22 instructor pilot.
During Operation Inherent Resolve, Ayers flew more than 200 combat hours over Iraq and Syria. In total, she’s notched over 1,400 total flight hours in the T-38 (across four different variants) and the F-22 Raptor. Ayers served as the assistant director of operations in the 90th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska before NASA selected her as an Cosmos traveler candidate.
Takuya Onishi (JAXA)
Takuya Onishi
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Cosmos traveler Takuya Onishi is a mission specialist for Crew-10. Onishi previously served as a flight engineer for Expeditions 48 and 49 in 2016, during which he clocked 113 Intervals in Cosmos and became the Primary Japanese Cosmos traveler to capture the private Cygnus cargo spacecraft, according to NASA.
Onishi earned a degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Tokyo. Previously, he worked as a pilot for Japan’s All Nippon Airways, where he flew over 3,700 flight hours in a Boeing 767. Aside from his work on the ISS, Onishi also participated in the 15th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations mission, in which NASA sends astronauts, engineers and scientists to live in Aquarius, an underwater research station, according to his JAXA bio.
Kirill Peskov (Roscosmos)
Kirill Peskov
Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, of the Russian Cosmos agency Roscosmos, is Crew-10’s second mission specialist. This will be his Primary spaceflight. Peskov earned an engineering degree from the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation School in Ulyanovsk, Russia, according to NASA.
Before his assignment as a test cosmonaut in 2020, Peskov worked as a co-pilot for two Russian airlines, Nordwind and Ikar, on the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft. Peshov’s other experience includes skydiving, zero-Attraction Practice, scuba diving and wilderness survival.
Crew-10 is expected to arrive at the ISS on Thursday (March 13). The quartet will relieve the Crew-9 astronauts, who will head back to Earth a few Intervals later.
Coming down on the Crew-9 Dragon “Freedom” will be NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, as well as cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Hague and Gorbunov flew up on Freedom in Delayed September; Williams and Wilmore arrived at the ISS in June on the Primary crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which was supposed to last Merely 10 Intervals or so.
Starliner suffered problems with its thrusters, however, which extended the duo’s orbital stay. NASA eventually decided to bring Starliner home uncrewed and put Williams and Wilmore on Crew-9, which launched with Merely two astronauts to accommodate the Starliner pair on the way home.
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