Image Credit: SpaceX
The SpaceX launch vehicle successfully launched a four-man crew consisting of two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut, and a United Arab Emirates astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) early on Thursday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The launch was initially scheduled for Monday but was scrubbed due to a blockage in the flow of engine-ignition fluid. After fixing the issue, the launch was rescheduled for Thursday.
The Crew Dragon capsule, called Endeavour, was delivered into preliminary orbit by the rocket's upper stage, while the Falcon booster landed safely on a recovery vessel in the Atlantic.
The crew is expected to reach the ISS after a 25-hour trip and will stay there for six months to carry out about 200 experiments and technology demonstrations.
This mission marks the sixth long-term ISS team that NASA has flown aboard SpaceX since the private rocket venture founded by Elon Musk began sending American astronauts to orbit in May 2020.
The Crew 6 mission is also notable for including the second person from the UAE to fly to space and the second cosmonaut to fly aboard an American spacecraft under a renewed ride-sharing deal signed in July by NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
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