this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2025
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With Trump’s cutbacks, crew heads for ISS unsure of when they’ll come back (arstechnica.com)
submitted 17 hours ago by PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au to c/space@mander.xyz
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The next four-person team to live and work aboard the International Space Station departed from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, taking aim at the massive orbiting research complex for a planned stay of six to eight months.

Spacecraft commander Zena Cardman leads the mission, designated Crew-11, that lifted off from Florida's Space Coast at 11:43 am EDT (15:43 UTC) on Friday. Sitting to her right inside SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavourcapsule was veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, serving as the vehicle pilot. Flanking the commander and pilot were two mission specialists: Kimiya Yui of Japan and Oleg Platonov of Russia.

Cardman and her crewmates rode a Falcon 9 rocket off the launch pad and headed northeast over the Atlantic Ocean, lining up with the space station's orbit to set the stage for an automated docking at the complex early Saturday.

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[–] misk@piefed.social 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I can guarantee that they will return because the alternative would be too embarrassing for Trump. This headline is kinda overdramatic.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 4 points 9 hours ago

The article was talking about the uncertainty in "when" they'll come back, and not "if"

[–] burble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

After everything that has gone into the ISS, dropping the crew size now would be such a waste. Losing 1 out of 7 crew members, when they are more productive than ever, would cause much more than 1/7 loss of science because of all the background work it takes to keep the station operational.

Extending crew rotations is much less bad than cutting crew, but it still isn't great for spreading experience around the astronaut corps.

We should be talking about more private flights to station, new Axiom modules, and flights of Starliner and Dreamchaser. Not cutting back.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Yeah, reducing crew size would be such a confusingly bone-headed move. I can't understand how anyone could think that would be an optimal way to cut costs.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world -1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I'm amazed they were brave enough to get into a space X rocket. Don't those things blow up more than work?

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 hours ago

space X rocket. Don’t those things blow up more than work?

Depends which one. This was a Falcon 9 rocket, which currently has a success rate of 509/512, and a success streak of 158.

The SpaceX rockets which blow up frequently are Starship/Superheavy, which are still in the development phase, and not carrying payloads or crew yet.