Camas High graduate pilots spacecraft to International Space Station

A Camas High School graduate is part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8, which launched March 4 en route to the International Space Station (ISS).

Astronaut Michael Barratt, a 1977 Camas High graduate, piloted the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which brought four crew members — including three NASA astronauts, Barratt, Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin to the ISS this week.

According to NASA, Barratt has participated in two space flights before this most recent launch — he was the flight engineer on NASA’s 2009 Expedition flight to the ISS and was aboard one of NASA’s final space shuttle flights, on the Discovery, which launched Feb. 24, 2011. Prior to the most recent trip to the ISS, Barratt had spent a total of 212 days in space.

In a news release, NASA said “the Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, (docked) autonomously to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module about 3 a.m. Tuesday, March 5.”

NASA provided live coverage on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website at NASA.gov.

On Monday, March 4, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated NASA and SpaceX “on another successful launch” to the ISS.

“On this eighth crew rotation mission, we are once again showing the strength of our commercial partnerships and American ingenuity that will propel us further in the cosmos,” Nelson stated in a news release. “Aboard the station, the crew will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations to help fuel this new era of space exploration and benefit humanity here on Earth.”

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