Kathmandu. NASA and SpaceX are going to launch their next crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the U.S. space agency announced Thursday.

Liftoff is scheduled for 12:09 p.m. on July 31. U.S. Eastern Time (1609 GMT) next Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Docking with the ISS is expected around 3 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2.

The new mission, codenamed Crew-11, will send NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov to the ISS.

This will mark the 11th crew rotation mission conducted in partnership with SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The initiative aims to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the ISS using commercial spacecraft. (Xinhua)