United States: NASA and SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft launched into the International Space Station (ISS), carrying four astronauts from different countries.
The Crew-7 mission’s crew includes America’s Ms. Jasmin Moghbeli, Mr. Andreas Mogensen of Denmark, Mr. Satoshi Furukawa of Japan, and Mr. Konstantin Borisov of Russia.
“We have liftoff!” NASA wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
We have liftoff! Endurance ascends to space. Next stop for #Crew7: the @Space_Station. pic.twitter.com/UW5Db3HH7C
— NASA (@NASA) August 26, 2023
The Dragon craft was separated from the Falcon 9 rocket with the crew in orbit.
“We may have four crew members on board from four different nations, but we’re a united team with a common mission,” Ms. Moghbeli stated after the separation.
NASA said in a blog post that the launch was pushed back to give engineers an extra day to review a component of the Crew Dragon capsule’s environmental control and life support system.
This was the debut space mission for both Ms. Moghbeli and Mr. Borisov.
“This is something I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember. One of the things I’m most excited about is looking back at our beautiful planet. Everyone who I’ve talked to who has flown already has said that was a life-changing perspective, and also floating around in space, it seems really fun,” remarked Ms. Moghbeli, a Naval test pilot, during a media call last month.
During their six-month stay on the ISS, the crew’s tasks will include conducting scientific experiments and gathering samples. They will also perform a spacewalk to investigate if the station emits microorganisms through its life-support system vents.
Crew-7 will join the existing seven members on the ISS, and a few days after their arrival, members of Crew-6 will depart for Earth.
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