Alabama grad among astronauts headed for Space Station

NASA crew members of the SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station will be Kjell Lindgren, left, and University of Alabama graduate Bob Hines.

NASA astronaut Bob Hines, who earned his master’s in aerospace engineering from the University of Alabama, will be making his first trip into space as part of an upcoming flight to the International Space Station.

Hines and Kjell Lindgren are two NASA crew members assigned to the planned 2022 launch of SpaceX’s Crew-4 mission. It will be the fourth crewed SpaceX mission, following a launch in November 2020 and planned launches in April and September of this year.

Hines and Lindgren, who will be joined by crew members assigned by NASA’s international partners, will be headed toward the space station for a “long-duration stay,” according to NASA. Lindgren spent 141 days at the space station in 2015.

Hines was selected as an astronaut in 2017. A North Carolina native, he earned an aerospace engineering degree from Boston University before getting his master’s at Alabama. He’s a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force.

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