Astronauts Suited, Prepare for Journey to Launch Pad

NASA SpaceX Crew-4 mission astronauts are in the suit-up room in the Astronaut Crew Quarters inside Kennedy Space Center’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on April 27, 2022. A team of SpaceX suit technicians are helping them as they put on their custom-fitted spacesuits and check the suits for leaks. At center is ESA astronaut and Mission Specialist Samantha Cristoforetti. Photo credit: NASA

Crew-4 astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, and Jessica Watkins, and Samantha Cristoforetti have finished putting on their SpaceX spacesuits and will soon depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for the short journey to Launch Complex 39A. At the pad, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft stand ready for liftoff.

The Crew-4 mission will fly a new Crew Dragon spacecraft and will launch on a Falcon 9 booster that has previously sent four missions into space. It is tradition the first astronauts to fly a new capsule name their spacecraft; Crew-4 chose “Freedom” to celebrate a fundamental human right, and the industry and innovation that emanate from the unencumbered human spirit.