SpaceX Crew-6 is planned to be the sixth crewed operational NASA Commercial Crew flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the tenth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission is scheduled to launch in February 2023. The Crew-6 mission will transport four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). Two NASA astronauts, a United Arab Emirates astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut have been assigned to the mission. The two NASA astronauts are Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg.[3] The cosmonaut, Andrey Fedyaev, was reassigned from Soyuz MS-23. Sultan Al Neyadi will head the Emirates' mission on the flight.
On 24 March 2022 the European Space Agency announced that Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen will serve as backup pilot.[4] On 29 April 2022, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) and Axiom Space announced that Crew-6 will also include an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates.[5]
MBRSC participation in this mission is a byproduct of a 2021 agreement between NASA and Axiom to fly a NASA astronaut, Mark T. Vande Hei, onboard Soyuz MS-18 (launch) and Soyuz MS-19 (return) in order to ensure a continuing American presence onboard the ISS. In return, Axiom received the rights to a NASA owned seat onboard SpaceX Crew-6. Axiom provided the flight opportunity to MBRSC professional crew member through an agreement with the United Arab Emirates Space Agency.[6] Later the astronaut was confirmed to be Sultan Al Neyadi.[7]
Andrey Fedyaev was selected in July 2022 for this mission as a part of the Soyuz-Dragon crew swap system of keeping at least one NASA astronaut and one Roscosmos cosmonaut on each of the crew rotation missions.[8] This ensures both countries have a presence on the station, and the ability to maintain their separate systems if either Soyuz or commercial crew vehicles are grounded for an extended period.[9]
The sixth SpaceX operational mission in the Commercial Crew Program is scheduled to launch in February 2023.[2]