BU Alum Robert Hines Is on a Mission—to the International Space Station
NASA pilot is one of four crew members scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center
By Steve Holt
NASA is about to send a Terrier into space.
Astronaut Robert Hines will pilot NASA’s SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, where the crew of four will study microgravity—the condition in which people or objects appear to be weightless. Hines (ENG’97) is set to become the first BU alum in space, joining a minuscule slice of humanity—fewer than 600—who’ve ventured beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Fewer than 400 Americans have gone into space, and an even smaller number have gone into orbit.
Hines and his fellow crew members—NASA’s Kjell Lindgren and Jessica Watkins and European Space Agency’s Samantha Cristoforetti—were scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 23 and dock to the space station on April 24. On Thursday, NASA announced the delay of the launch: “no earlier than April 26” (with docking the next day). Both the launch and docking are scheduled to air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. The four astronauts will be in space for approximately six months.
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Photo credit: NASA