USD-Magazine-Spring-2025

NASA SPACEX CREW-8

Dominick, commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission, returned home in late October after spending more than seven months in outer space. On March 2, 2024, he made history when he became the first University of San Diego alumnus to journey into outer space. Fellow Torero Jonny Kim ’12 (BA), flight engineer and crew member for the Expedition 73 mission, is currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS). NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 — composed of Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin — was the eighth rotation mission with SpaceX to the ISS. During the mission, the crew performed research, technology demonstrations and maintenance activities. Dominick earned a dual BS/BA degree in electrical engineering from USD’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering. He was selected out of more than 18,300 candidates to join NASA as part of its 2017 astronaut candidate class of 12. The class also included Kim, who earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from USD. October 25, 2024. It’s predawn in Pensacola along Florida’s Panhandle and Crew-8 has just arrived safely back on Earth. Only minutes earlier, the SpaceX Dragon capsule made a splashdown in a very precise target area amid the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. NASA’s recovery crew, outfitted with jet skis, beeline for the capsule, rapidly attach cables and tow it to a waiting ship that carefully cranes the vessel onto its deck. Secured, the capsule’s hatch opens. Slowly, and with much support from the ground crew, Dominick exits and stands warily on solid ground for the first time in more than seven months. Finally, he is back home. It’s a dramatic conclusion to what felt like a long journey home — one that began days prior aboard the ISS, with meticulous packing, “LET’S SIT ON THE PATH”

precise checks, relentless rechecks and a unique cultural tradition to ensure the crew a safe flight home. “Imagine that you’ve been on vacation for eight months and now you have to pack everything — very specifically — and get into a small car and drive the long distance home,” says Dominick. The Dragon capsule has a center of mass and a center of lift, so it’s vital that the relationship is maintained upon reentry. The packing plan is precise, with every single item accounted for and properly secured. “You can imagine that if something comes loose inside the capsule during reentry, it would move the center of mass and now

that really critical component would be off and we may not be able to have correct guidance back to Earth,” Dominick explains. With the Dragon fully packed and ready for departure, the goodbyes begin. For Dominick, it’s a memorable moment full of anticipation. To tamp down the

A STUDENT OF THE ART FORM, DOMINICK MADE PHOTOGRAPHY CENTRAL TO HIS IDENTITY ABOARD THE ORBITING LABORATORY.

anxiousness of undocking, the crew participates in a Russian tradition called prisyadem na dorozhku , literally translated to “let’s sit on the path.” It’s intended as a moment of silence to prepare for a safe trip, and an action Dominick has since adopted when his own family prepares for a vacation. “Before you leave, you line up your suitcases and everyone sits on them, takes a deep breath, and thinks about whether maybe we forgot something,” says Dominick. “Once you close that hatch, there’s no going back — you’re going to undock from the space station and go home.”

AN AUTHENTIC AND INTERACTIVE RELATIONSHIP

It’s the year 2000, and Dominick, a first-year student at USD, is sitting at a desk in his residence hall working on an assignment for an introductory engineering course. The task? Develop and publish a website. “It sounds silly in 2025, but this was a quarter century ago — the internet was still relatively new,” he recalls. “I remember exactly what desk I was sitting in. I published the website and I had this

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