NOTE: Statement from NASA released Wednesday, March 12.
Tonight’s mission to the International Space Station will be a first for some of the members of Crew-10.
Born in Spokane, Washington, this is NASA astronaut Anne McClain’s second spaceflight to the space station since becoming an astronaut with the agency in 2013. During her first mission, McClain spent 204 days as a flight engineer during Expeditions 58 and 59, and completed two spacewalks, totaling 13 hours and 8 minutes. Since then, she has served in various roles, including branch chief and space station assistant to the chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office.
The Crew-10 mission will be the first spaceflight for Nichole Ayers, who is a major in the U.S. Air Force and the first member of NASA’s 2021 astronaut class named to a crew. Ayers served as an instructor pilot and mission commander in the T-38 ADAIR and F-22 Raptor, leading multinational and multiservice missions worldwide. She has more than 1,400 total flight hours, including more than 200 in combat. Ayers was born in San Diego, California, but currently lives in Colorado Springs with her husband.
JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi will be embarking on his second mission to the space station. Since becoming a JAXA astronaut in 2009, he spent 113 days in space as a flight engineer for Expeditions 48 and 49 after launching aboard the Soyuz MS-01 mission in 2016.
The Crew-10 mission also will be Kirill Peskov’s first trip to the International Space Station. Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, he was a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for airlines Nordwind and Ikar. Assigned as a test cosmonaut in 2020, he has additional experience in skydiving, zero-gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival.
Liftoff remains on target for 7:48 p.m. EDT aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the company’s Dragon spacecraft.
Live coverage of the Crew-10 broadcast is airing on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
NASA will continue providing updates about the launch on the mission blog, @commercial crew on X, or commercial crew on Facebook.
