SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying two US astronauts, a Canadian astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut, lifted off from Florida on Thursday on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The rocket, carrying an autonomously operated Crew Dragon capsule, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station along Florida’s Atlantic coast.
The reusable Falcon 9 booster separated from the rocket about three minutes after launch before returning to Earth for a landing. Its upper stage continued into orbit and deployed the Crew Dragon carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
The capsule was expected to make an eight-hour journey before docking with the space station, about 400 km above Earth.
The mission, known as Crew-13, is the 13th long-duration ISS crew that NASA has sent aboard a SpaceX launch vehicle since the company began carrying US astronauts into orbit in May 2020.
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Watkins, 38, a geologist-turned-astronaut, is leading the mission and is making her second trip to space. She is the first NASA astronaut to fly twice aboard a Crew Dragon.
Delaney, 47, a former test and fighter pilot, is making his first spaceflight, while Kutryk, 44, and Teteryatnikov, 37, are also making their spaceflight debuts.
The four astronauts will join seven current ISS occupants, including the four members of Crew-12, who are due to return to Earth after more than seven months in orbit.
Crew-13 will conduct biomedical and human-performance research, including studies into the effects of microgravity on blood circulation and clotting, as well as collecting health data to support future space missions.
The ISS is operated by a US-Russian-led consortium that includes Canada, Japan and 11 European countries. NASA has said it is committed to keeping the station operational through 2030.
Reuters
