NASA names Crew-14 team with astronauts from US, Japan and Russia

The US space agency NASA has announced the four-member crew for SpaceX's 'Crew-14' mission to the International Space Station. The team, comprising astronauts from the United States, Japan and Russia, will not launch before spring 2027, NASA said.

American astronaut Kayla Barron will serve as mission commander and Chris Birch as pilot. Makoto Suwa of Japan's JAXA and Arutyun Kiviryan of Russia's Roscosmos will serve as mission specialists.

After reaching the station, all four will take part in Expedition 75/76. Only Barron has previous spaceflight experience on the team; she reached the station aboard Crew-3 in 2021 and spent about 177 days there. This will be the first spaceflight for the other three.

Birch was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021 and has previously served as a capsule communicator for the Artemis II mission. Suwa had earlier worked at the World Bank Group for nearly a decade. Kiviryan has been serving as a test cosmonaut in Russia since 2023.

The mission is NASA's 14th commercial crew rotation with SpaceX under its low Earth orbit programme. NASA says the research and technology testing the crew will carry out during their long stay will help future missions to the Moon and Mars.