Taiwan-born U.S. astronaut Kjell Lindgren at the Kennedy Center in Florida (May 29, 2020)
NASA has assigned two astronauts to travel to the International Space Station aboard private astronaut company SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. This will also be the fourth crew rotation flight for the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Taiwan-born astronaut Kjell Lindgren and astronaut Bob Hines will serve as commander and pilot, respectively, on the mission, and will stay on the station for an extended period of Time once they arrive.
The flight is scheduled for 2022, when the manned Dragon spacecraft carrying the astronauts will be launched by a Falcon 9 (Falcon9) rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Kier Lin, 48, whose father is Swedish-American, served in the U.S. Air Force and met Kier Lin’s mother, Chang Chu-kwan, who works in a bank, when he was stationed at the Qingquan Gang Air Force Base in Taichung more than 40 years ago.
Kier Lin lived in Taiwan until he was two and a half years old and spent most of his childhood in England before returning to the United States to complete his Education. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the U.S. Air Force Academy, a master’s degree in cardiovascular physiology from Colorado State University, and a doctorate in Medicine from the University of Colorado.
Angel Lin was selected as an astronaut in 2009, and in December 2020, he became a member of the Artemis astronaut team. The goal of the Artemis program is to return to the Moon and then move on to Mars. Ringer spent 141 days on the International Space Station in 2015, and this mission will be his second in space.
Lynch’s last mission to the space station was for scientific research. Unlike last time, this mission is part of NASA’s commercial manned program with private companies to pave the way for future human space travel.
NASA is working with the U.S. aerospace industry, and industry companies are developing and operating a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems that will send astronauts into near-Earth orbit and to the space station.
SpaceX’s manned Dragon spacecraft was built by a private company. The Crew Dragon is also the first new manned spacecraft to be certified by NASA to carry astronauts on routine flights since the space shuttle nearly 40 years ago.
The space station is a key test bed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in near-Earth orbit,” NASA said in a press release. With commercial companies focused on providing human spaceflight transportation services and developing a robust near-Earth orbit economy, NASA is free to focus on building spacecraft and rockets for deep space missions to the Moon and Mars.”
Haynes, who holds a master’s degree in aerospace engineering, was selected as an astronaut in 2017 and this mission will be his first trip to space.
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