Liftoff For South Windsor Astronaut On SpaceX Rocket

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT — A South Windsor native was headed to the International Space Station after a successful early morning launch.

NASA and SpaceX launched the Crew-12 mission Feb. 13 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, sending four astronauts into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.

Serving as pilot on the mission was Jack Hathaway, who was born and raised in South Windsor and graduated from South Windsor High School in 2000.

The spacecraft was bound for the International Space Station, where the Crew-12 astronauts were set to join Expedition 74 for an extended science expedition. During their time aboard the orbiting laboratory, the crew was expected to conduct experiments and document the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body and technology.

Hathaway attended the United States Naval Academy, earning a bachelor’s degree in physics and history in 2004. He was commissioned into the U.S. Navy the same year and later became a naval aviator.

According to NASA, Hathaway logged more than 2,500 flight hours in 30 different aircraft types, completed more than 500 carrier landings and flew 39 combat missions before being selected as an astronaut. The mission marked his first trip to space.

During Dragon’s flight, SpaceX will monitor a series of automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California. NASA will monitor space station operations throughout the flight from the Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA’s live coverage resumes at 1:15 p.m. Saturday on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel with rendezvous, docking, and hatch opening. After docking, the crew will change out of their spacesuits and prepare cargo for offload before opening the hatch between Dragon and the space station’s Harmony module around 5 p.m. NASA will also provide coverage of the welcome ceremony aboard the space station shortly following hatch opening.