Later this week, early on Halloween morning, an Iowan will be rocketing into orbit in a SpaceX capsule for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. Cedar Falls native Raja Chari and three other astronauts are scheduled for launch at 1:21 AM/Central from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Chari, an Air Force colonel, says we have to continue to explore and expand our species beyond this planet, while also learning to make the Earth even more hospitable.

This will be Chari’s first trip to space and he’s been named mission commander, NASA’s first rookie commander since 1973 and the first Iowan in space since Peggy Whitson’s last mission in 2017.