NASA Names Four Astronauts for SpaceX Crew-14 Mission to ISS

NASA has assigned four astronauts from three space agencies to the SpaceX Crew-14 mission, targeting a Falcon 9 launch to the International Space Station no earlier than spring 2027. Shared via X on September 24, the update officially schedules the 14th commercial crew rotation to the orbital laboratory, arriving on the heels of a major extension of SpaceX’s agreement with NASA. The disclosure arrived on Thursday when the space agency revealed the four crew members assigned to fly the SpaceX Crew-14 mission to the International Space Station, with departure anticipated no sooner than the spring of 2027.

International Crew Lineup for Expedition 75 and 76

The upcoming flight will carry four people to the ISS, representing three space agencies. According to NASA, the lineup is:

Kayla Barron serves as the NASA Spacecraft Commander, Chris Birch as the NASA Pilot, Makoto Suwa as the JAXA Mission Specialist, and Arutyun Kiviryan as the Roscosmos Mission Specialist. Bringing together representatives from NASA, JAXA, and Roscosmos inside a single Dragon capsule, this multinational crew embodies the collaborative framework that has characterized Commercial Crew flights ever since Crew-1 in 2020. After docking with the station, Crew-14 will join the Expedition 75/76 crew.

Barron is Crew-14’s commander. Having graduated from both the Naval Academy and Cambridge prior to her 2017 astronaut selection, she is now preparing for her second journey to the orbiting outpost. Her prior spaceflight involved 177 days in orbit during Crew-3, which included two spacewalks and duties as the lead robotics operator. Barron brings the only previous spaceflight experience among the crew members. The NASA astronaut launched on the Crew-3 flight in 2021, logging 177 days in orbit across Expeditions 66 and 67.

Birch is Crew-14’s pilot. She joined the astronaut corps in 2021 following a diverse background that included earning an MIT doctorate in biological engineering, instructing at Caltech, and representing the United States as a track cyclist in the Tokyo Olympic Games. On the ground, she served as CapCom for the Artemis II mission around the Moon, and the crew lead for the space station’s 72nd liveaboard “Expedition” mission. Crew-14 will be her first trip to space. The former American track cyclist holds a doctoral degree in biological engineering from MIT and previously worked as a capsule communicator alongside leading Expedition 72 as crew lead.

It will also be the first trip to space for Crew-14’s mission specialists. Suwa was selected by JAXA in 2023 and became a certified astronaut in 2024. The alumnus of Princeton University, where he earned a geosciences doctorate, spent nearly a decade employed by the World Bank Group alongside stints with the Japan Overseas Cooperation and the United Nations World Meteorological Organization. Kiviryan was selected in 2021 for the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center corps, and has served as a test cosmonaut since 2023.

Contract Expansion and the Commercial Crew Cadence

Crew-14 doesn’t exist in isolation. On September 18, 2026 — just six days before SpaceX’s training announcement — NASA updated its Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) agreement with SpaceX to incorporate three additional crewed Dragon flights designated as Crew-15, Crew-16, and Crew-17. Valued at $946 million according to agency reports, this contractual adjustment elevates the cumulative CCtCap financial commitment to roughly $5.92 billion through the year 2030. That scope covers considerably more than just putting people in a seat, including ground processing, launch execution, and recovery operations.

NASA Names Four Astronauts for SpaceX Crew-14 Mission to ISS — Photo: teslanorth.com

Station Timeline and Research Objectives

As the International Space Station approaches the final three years of its operational timeline at most, it prepares to receive yet another incoming crew of astronauts in 2027. While in orbit, the crew will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future exploration missions to the Moon and Mars and to benefit people on Earth, NASA said. SpaceX has formally verified that it is actively preparing NASA’s Crew-14 personnel for a Falcon 9 liftoff utilizing a Dragon spacecraft slated for Spring 2027.