Astronaut and South Windsor native Jack Hathaway and three fellow crew members were aboard the International Space Station Station Saturday for the start of an eight-month stay, according to NASA.
Mission pilot Hathaway and crew commander Jessica Meir, along with European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev blasted off on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft powered by a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida Friday morning. The crew entered the orbiting laboratory after opening hatches between the spacecraft and space station at 5:14 p.m., NASA reported.
Meir, Hathaway, Adenot, and Fedyaev joined members of the Expedition 74 crew, including NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. The new arrivals replaced four astronauts who were evacuated from the ISS last month after one member developed a “serious medical condition,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.
After graduating from South Windsor High School in 2000, Hathaway received a bachelor’s degree in physics and history in 2004 from the U.S. Naval Academy, a master’s degree in flight dynamics in 2014 from Cranfield University in Great Britain and another master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College.
Now a Navy commander, he became a naval aviator in 2006 and has flown 39 combat missions. Hathaway has received numerous awards, including the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Strike Flight Air Medal, the Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal – both of which he was awarded twice.
Hathaway earned his wings for space flight in 2024 after graduating from the Johnson Space Center in Houston with 11 other astronauts. Friday’s launch was his first time in space.
“I think the day that I get to strap in the rocket, I’ll be excited,” Hathaway said at the Space Center graduation ceremony. “I’m gonna be ready, and I can’t wait for that moment.”
This article originally published at Astronaut and South Windsor native now aboard the International Space Station.