CRS-31 Prelaunch News Teleconference

NASA and SpaceX discuss the return of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission following splashdown at 3:29 a.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 25, off Pensacola, Florida. Participants are: * Richard Jones, deputy manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program * Bill Spetch, operations and integration manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program * William Gerstenmaier, vice president, Build and Flight Reliability, SpaceX

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will discuss the Sun’s activity and the progression of Solar Cycle 25 during a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 15. Tracking the solar cycle is a key part of better understanding the Sun and mitigating its impacts on technology and infrastructure as humanity explores farther into space. For these images and more relating to solar maximum, visit https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14683. Participants include: Jamie Favors, director, NASA’s Space Weather Program Kelly Korreck, program scientist, NASA’s Heliophysics Division Elsayed Talaat, director, Office of Space Weather Observations, NOAA Bill Murtagh, program coordinator, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center Lisa Upton, co-chair, Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel and lead scientist, Southwest Research Institute

Members of the media participate in a Prelaunch teleconference on NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to an icy moon of Jupiter. Participants include: Jim Free, NASA Associate Administrator Sandra Connelly, Deputy Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Jordan Evans, Europa Clipper Project Manager, NASA JPL Tim Dunn, Launch Director, NASA’s Launch Services Program Julianna Scheiman, Director, NASA Science Missions, SpaceX Mike McAleenan, Launch Weather Officer, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Space Force

NASA will host a media teleconference to discuss the scientific objectives of the Europa Clipper mission. Participants include: • Gina DiBraccio, acting director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters • Robert Pappalardo, project scientist, Europa Clipper, NASA JPL • Haje Korth, deputy project scientist, Europa Clipper, Applied Physics Laboratory • Cynthia Phillips, project staff scientist, Europa Clipper, NASA JPL Beyond Earth, Jupiter’s moon Europa is considered one of the solar system’s most promising potentially habitable environments. After an approximately 1.8-billion-mile journey, Europa Clipper will enter orbit around Jupiter in April 2030, where the spacecraft will conduct a detailed survey of Europa to determine whether the icy world could have conditions suitable for life. Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission. It carries a suite of nine instruments along with a gravity experiment that will investigate an ocean beneath Europa’s surface, which scientists believe contains twice as much liquid water as Earth’s oceans.

NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson discusses her six-month mission aboard the International Space Station and answers questions from the media. A Soyuz capsule carrying Dyson and her crewmates home landed safely at 7:59 a.m. EDT (1159 UTC), Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. Dyson’s third spaceflight, spanning 184 days, covered 2,944 orbits of the Earth and a journey of 78 million miles (125.5 million km). While aboard the orbiting laboratory, Dyson conducted multiple scientific and technology activities. About Dyson's science mission: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/iss-research/nasa-astronaut-tracy-c-dyson-scientific-mission-aboard-space-station/ Credit: NASA

Following the successful launch of #Crew9 to the International Space Station, leads from NASA and SpaceX discuss the mission and take questions from the media. Participants include: NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate Dana Hutcherson, deputy program manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Dina Contella, deputy manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program Sarah Walker, director, Dragon Mission Management, SpaceX NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission lifted off at 1:17 p.m. EDT (1717 UTC), Saturday, Sept. 28 from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are scheduled to spend approximately five months on the orbiting laboratory. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who launched aboard the Starliner spacecraft in June, will fly home with Crew-9 in February 2025. More information about Crew-9: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-spacex-crew-9/ Credit: NASA #NASA #SpaceX #Crew9

Leaders from NASA and SpaceX preview the launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, and a launch weather officer from the U.S. Space Force provides a forecast. Participants include: NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Dina Contella, deputy manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program Jennifer Buchli, chief scientist, NASA’s International Space Station Program William Gerstenmaier, vice president, Build & Flight Reliability, SpaceX Brian Cizek, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, will launch to the International Space Station on the Dragon spacecraft powered by a Falcon 9 rocket. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who launched aboard the Starliner spacecraft in June, will fly home with Hague and Gorbunov in February 2025. More information about Crew-9: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-spacex-crew-9/ Credit: NASA #NASA #SpaceX #Crew9