- SpaceX launched four people from Florida to the International Space Station as Elon Musk’s company begins the final of the first six missions given by NASA.
- The crew includes 2 Americans, 1 Russian and 1 Emirati.
- After the capsule reached orbit, SpaceX Mission Control called out, “If you enjoyed the ride, don’t forget to give us five stars.”
A long exposure photo shows SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew-6 mission.
Joel Kowski / NASA
SpaceX launched four people from Florida to the International Space Station as Elon Musk’s company begins the final of the first six missions given by NASA.
known as Crew-6, a NASA mission that takes the group to a space station and stays in orbit for six months. The mission is his sixth crewed space flight to date for SpaceX for NASA and his ninth crewed space flight for the company.
After the capsule reached orbit, SpaceX Mission Control called out, “If you enjoyed the ride, don’t forget to give us five stars.”
“That was great, thank you,” Crew-6 Commander Steven Bowen replied.
Crew-6 launched just after midnight on Thursday, beginning its 24-hour-plus journey to the ISS. The mission brings the number of astronauts SpaceX has launched to 34 since its first manned launch in May 2020, including both government and private missions.
Crew-6 cosmonauts before launch, from left: Russian cosmonauts
space x
The crew includes 2 Americans, 1 Russian and 1 Emirati.
SpaceX launched astronauts in a Crew Dragon capsule called Endeavor, on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. Both the rocket and capsule are reusable, the latter being flown on his fourth mission to date.
After a last-minute delay in SpaceX’s first launch attempt on Monday, a data review identified clogged filters in ground systems as the cause of apparent problems with liquids igniting the rocket’s engines. SpaceX replaced the filters and completed verification procedures for Thursday’s launch.
SpaceX developed the Crew Dragon spacecraft and fine-tuned the Falcon 9 rocket under NASA’s competitive Commercial Crew program, which competes with Boeing’s Starliner capsule. But Boeing’s capsule remains in development, and costly delays have delayed the start of operational Starliner flights.
NASA has awarded SpaceX a total of 14 additional missions compared to Boeing’s six.
