SpaceX launches 4 individuals on NASA’s Crew-11 mission to ISS : NPR

Crew-11 mission astronauts wave as they head to the launch pad on the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Friday. From Left to proper, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, NASA astronaut and mission commander Zena Cardman and JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui. The crew will reside and work aboard the International Space Station for at the very least six months.

Gregg Newton/AFP through Getty Images

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Gregg Newton/AFP through Getty Images

An worldwide crew of 4 launched into orbit simply earlier than midday Friday from Florida on NASA’s Crew-11, a six-month mission to the International Space Station.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket roared to life on Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A, lofting the corporate’s Dragon capsule and crew on a nine-minute journey from the Earth’s floor into orbit.

The capsule is carrying NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, together with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

It will take the crew about 15 hours to achieve the ISS, with a docking deliberate Saturday round 3 a.m. ET. Once there, they will stay aboard the station for about six months, residing and dealing on the orbiting lab, conducting dozens of science experiments.

Those embody learning plant cell division and microgravity’s results on bacterial-killing viruses. They’ll additionally carry out experiments to provide a “higher volume of human stem cells and general on-demand nutrients.”

The Crew-11 mission marks the twelfth time SpaceX is launching NASA astronauts to the ISS. In 2020, the non-public firm started ferrying astronauts to the station as a part of the company’s Commercial Crew Program, ending a reliance on Russia for rides to the station after the retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour carrying the Crew-11 mission lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday.

Chandan Khanna/AFP through Getty Images

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Chandan Khanna/AFP through Getty Images

It is the primary journey to house for mission commander Cardman. The 37-year-old geobiologist was chosen by NASA in 2017 to affix the astronaut corps. Her first flight was scheduled final yr on SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, however her project was bumped to make room for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

Wilmore and Williams had arrived on the house station in Boeing’s Starliner capsule on the spacecraft’s first human take a look at flight in June 2024. But {hardware} points uncovered throughout that mission prompted NASA to pick out a brand new trip dwelling for the crew — leaving the Starliner with nobody aboard for its journey again to Earth. NASA and SpaceX flew Crew-9 to the station with two empty seats for Wilmore and Williams to make use of for his or her return in March.

“It was an unexpected change. But space flight is not about me or about any individual. It’s about what we can do together,” mentioned Cardman. “Now I have the opportunity to train with this wonderful, amazing crew. Life is a journey. It takes many turns, and I’m just grateful to be here.”

For Crew-11 pilot Mike Fincke, it is going to be his fourth journey to the house station. His first two flights in 2004 and 2008 have been aboard Russia’s Soyuz capsule. In 2011, he flew to the station on Space Shuttle Endeavour — the final launch of that car.

There has been a continuous human presence on the house station since its first crew arrived on October 31, 2000. But the orbiting outpost is ready to retire by the top of the last decade.

“We have a beautiful space station. I’m very proud of our space station,” mentioned Fincke forward of his launch. “This is something that I think that humans should just really remember of all the cool things we can do when we work together constructively.”

The mission marks the second journey to the station for Japan’s Yui Kimiya. It is the primary spaceflight for Russia’s Oleg Platonov.