HOUSTON – The next crew headed to the International Space Station is preparing for its mission as the world marks the 50th anniversary of the first man on the moon.
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and Hazzaa Ali Almansoori, the first spaceflight participant from the United Arab Emirates, spoke Monday about their Sept. 25 launch aboard the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft.
Meir said there are about 300 experiments that are planned while they are in space. Many of the experiments are designed to study the way the body and the immune system change during flight.
With the nation marking the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and the country preparing to return to the moon, Meir talked about the possibility of putting a woman on the moon.
"It's an exciting prospect," Meir said. "I know we are working on that, getting back to the moon again and getting a woman there. I'd love to be that woman, so we'll see how everything shapes up. I think it's a great thing we have laid out that goal and we're starting to work toward it, and no matter when it is we get there, it's going to be another great achievement."
The launch will take place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The three will join six other crew members aboard the space station: NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Christina Koch and Andrew Morgan; European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Alexey Ovchinin.