USA TODAY The arrival of the astronauts selected for the Crew-11 mission at the space station will pave the way for the Crew-10 predecessors to depart. Crew-10 arrived at the ISS in mid-March in a headline-grabbing mission that allowed for the long-awaited departure of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who crewed the Boeing Starliner space capsule. The mission is the latest in a series of joint ventures between NASA and SpaceX to send astronauts to the outpost, where they spend months conducting scientific research. The next group of astronauts could be heading to space in a week, where they will relieve a group of spacefarers at the International Space Station who played a critical role in bringing the Boeing Starliner saga to an end. The mission, known as Crew-11, is the latest in a series of joint ventures between NASA and SpaceX to send astronauts to the outpost, where they spend months at a time conducting scientific research only possible in orbit. The four-person crew, which includes two NASA astronauts, are the first humans to fly to space since a relatively brief private voyage known as Axiom Mission 4 came to an end earlier in July after 20 days. The arrival of the astronauts selected for the Crew-11 mission at the space station will also pave the way for four others to leave. Their Crew-10 predecessors arrived at the ISS in mid-March in a headline-grabbing mission that set the stage for the long-awaited departure of the NASA astronauts − Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams − who crewed the ill-fated Starliner space capsule the year before. Here's everything to know about the Crew-11 mission and its impending launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. What is the SpaceX Crew-11 mission? As the name suggests, Crew-11 is NASA and SpaceX's 11th science expedition to the International Space Station. The missions, most of which last about six months, are contracted under NASA's commercial crew program. The program allows the U.S. space agency to pay SpaceX to launch and transport astronauts and cargo to orbit aboard the company's own vehicles, freeing up NASA to focus on its Artemis lunar program and other spaceflight missions, including future crewed voyages to Mars. When was the first NASA, SpaceX Crew mission? What is the Dragon? The first of SpaceX's Crew missions ferrying astronauts to the orbital outpost on its Dragon capsule began in 2020. Standing nearly 27 feet tall and about 13 feet wide, Dragon capsules can carry up to seven astronauts into orbit, though most of SpaceX's Crew missions feature a crew of four.