The International Space Station is about to get a new crew.
A Dragon capsule carrying the four Crew-5 astronauts lifted off atop aFalcon 9 rocket from historic Launch Pad 39A here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
NASA's Nicole Mann and JoshCassada are two of the four space flyers. Mann was the first Native American woman to reach the final frontier, and the first Russian to fly on a private American spaceship.
Photo Gallery: SpaceX's Crew-5 astronaut launch in amazing images
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Mann said during the press conference that he was proud to represent Native Americans. We are all from very different places. All of us came from different educations. Everyone is coming together.
The Crew-5 mission was possible thanks to everyone who made it happen. She said that they would do their job well.
The engines that power the first stage of the Falcon 9 lifted the rocket off the ground.
The Falcon 9 upper stage separated from the first-stage booster after two minutes and 40 seconds of flight. After 12 minutes after liftoff, Endurance separated from the upper stage and began its solo chase of the International Space Station.
"It was a smooth ride, and I see all the three happy faces here, to be back in zero-g," Wakata said. Thanks so much!
The first stage of the Falcon 9 was busy after it separated from the upper stage and landed on a ship in the ocean.
The first landing for this booster was today. The booster gleamed bright-white on the pad before liftoff, a somewhat unnerving sight, given that most SpaceX rockets these days are soot blackened veterans with multiple missions under their belts.
Crew-5 was the 44th launch of the year for Musk's company, and it was a success. There are two more liftoffs on the way. The Starlink internet satellites will be launched from the Space Force Base in California and two commercial communications satellites from Florida on Thursday.
Crew-5 is the eighth mission for the company and there are two more scheduled before the end of the spring.
Not all of these flights have been for NASA, but they did launch the orbital tourism missions in September and April. The crewed demo-2 test mission to the International Space Station was flown by the company in 2020.
Wakata is the only spaceflight neophyte in the Crew-5. The Japanese man has flown three crew-rated spaceships in which he has been a passenger.
I amWhew!" Mann told mission control that it was a smooth ride up the hill. Three rookies are happy to be in space
The International Space Station is due to dock with it at 5 pm. There was an event on Thursday The Crew-5 astronauts will live on the space station for about five months, performing scientific experiments and other duties.
The current crew of seven, four of which are from the Crew-4 mission, will greet the quartet on Thursday. Mann will be in charge of the International Space Station until the arrival of Crew 6 next year.
The launch of Crew-5 was pushed back two days due to Hurricane Ian. The storm had an impact on NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission, which had to be rolled off the Pad 39B to shelter from the storm. The launch of Artemis 1 was supposed to take place on September 27.
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