(AGENPARL) – ven 04 agosto 2023 August 04, 2023 
RELEASE 23-080
*Space Station Assignments Out for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Mission*
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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Crew Portrait
*/Credits: NASA/*
Four crew members now are assigned to launch on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8
mission for a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Commander Matthew Dominick [1], Pilot Michael Barratt [2],
and Mission Specialist Jeanette Epps [3], along with Roscosmos cosmonaut
Mission Specialist Alexander Grebenkin, will join Expedition 70 and 71 crew
members aboard the station in early 2024 to conduct a wide-ranging set of
operational and research activities.
This will be the first spaceflight for Dominick, who became a NASA astronaut
in 2017. He is from Wheat Ridge, Colorado, and earned a bachelor’s degree
in electrical engineering from the University of San Diego, California, and a
master’s in systems engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in
Monterey, California. He is an active-duty U.S. Navy astronaut. He graduated
from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland, and then
served as a test pilot specializing in testing landing on and catapult
launches from U.S. Navy aircraft carriers.
This will be Barratt’s third trip to the space station. In 2009, Barratt
served as a flight engineer for Expeditions 19 and 20 as the station
transitioned its standard crew complement from three to six, and performed
two spacewalks. He flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 2011 on
STS-133, which delivered the Permanent Multipurpose Module and fourth Express
Logistics Carrier. He has spent a total of 212 days in space. Born in
Vancouver, Washington, he Considers Camas, Washington, to be his hometown.
Barratt earned a bachelor’s in zoology from the University of Washington,
Seattle, and a doctor of medicine from Northwestern University in Chicago,
Illinois. He completed residencies in internal medicine at Northwestern and
aerospace medicine along with a master’s degree at Wright State University
in Dayton, Ohio. After nine years as a NASA flight surgeon and project
physician, Barratt joined the astronaut corps in 2000.
This also will be Epps’ first trip to the space station. She is from
Syracuse, New York, and earned a bachelor’s in physics from LeMoyne College
in Syracuse, New York, and a master’s in science and a doctorate in
aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to
joining NASA, she worked at Ford Motor Company and the Central Intelligence
Agency. She was selected as an astronaut in July 2009, and has served on the
Generic Joint Operation Panel working on space station crew efficiency, as a
crew support astronaut for two expeditions, and as lead capsule communicator
in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Epps previously was assigned to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 mission. NASA
reassigned Epps to allow Boeing time to complete development of Starliner
while also continuing plans for astronauts to gain spaceflight experience for
future mission needs.
Grebenkin, who graduated from Irkutsk High Military Aviation School, Irkutsk,
Russia, majoring in engineering, maintenance, and repair of aircraft radio
navigation systems, also is flying on his first mission. He graduated from
Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics with a degree
in radio communications, broadcasting, and television.
This is the eighth rotational mission to the space station under NASA’s
Commercial Crew Program [4], which works with the American aerospace industry
to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the
orbital outpost on American-made rockets and spacecraft launching from
American soil.
For more than 22 years [5], humans have lived and worked continuously aboard
the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and
demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on
Earth. As a global endeavor, 244 people from 19 countries have visited the
unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 3,000 research and
educational investigations from researchers in 108 countries and areas.
The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the
challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial
opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing
human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low
Earth orbit economy [6], NASA is able to more fully focus its resources on
deep space missions to the Moon and Mars [7].
Find more information on NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:
*https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew* [8]
-end-
*Press Contacts*
Joshua Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
Courtney Beasley
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
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[1] https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/matthew-dominick
[2] https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/michael-r-barratt
[3] https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/jeanette-j-epps
[4] https://www.nasa.gov/content/commercial-crew-program-the-essentials
[5] https://www.nasa.gov/station20/
[6] https://www.nasa.gov/leo-economy/low-earth-orbit-economy
[7] https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars
[8] https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew