Categories: InnovationScience

SpaceX Launches Third Crewed Flight Into Orbit

A reusable SpaceX launcher has carried four astronauts from three countries from a Florida launchpad to a rendezvous with the International Space Station.

The launch was SpaceX’s third crewed launch to date, and the first to use a previously flown boster and spacecraft.

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur were joined by French astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

The passengers departed on Friday to dock with the ISS on Saturday morning for a six-month stay in space.

Image credit: Thomas Pesquet/Twitter

Reusable spacecraft

The “Endeavour” Crew Dragon capsule previously carried NASA’s Robert Behnken – who is married to McArthur – and Douglas Hurley to the ISS in May 2020.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 booster rocket was also previously used in November 2020, and was still charred with soot from that mission.

Pesquet shared a photo of himself and the other three on a Florida beach on Twitter before they proceeded to Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre shortly after midnight.

The astronauts were driven to the launchpad in white Tesla Model Xs bearing the NASA logo, then sent several hours being strapped into the spacecraft.

The launch took place shortly before 6 a.m. local time, with the Falcon 9 booster separating and landing on a sea platform for further reuse.

The crew docked with the ISS on Saturday morning at a height of about 250 miles above the Earth’s surface.

From left: Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Image credit: SpaceX

Private-sector contract

Their arrival brought the station’s crew to a total of 11, which will drop back to seven with the scheduled departure of four other astronauts on 28 April.

NASA said the astronauts would focus in part on studying the functioning of human cells in microgravity, which could advance the development of drugs and vaccines.

NASA ended its Space Shuttle programme in 2011 and since then has relied on Russia’s Soyuz to ferry crew into space.

Over the past ten years the agency has contracted with SpaceX and Boeing to create private-sector launch facilities.

SpaceX’s May 2020 flight was its first-ever crewed mission, following a number of cargo-bearing launches. It was followed by a second crewed flight in November.

The company has announced plans for its first all-civilian spaceflight for the fourth quarter of this year.

Image credit: NASA
Matthew Broersma

Matt Broersma is a long standing tech freelance, who has worked for Ziff-Davis, ZDnet and other leading publications

Recent Posts

Meta Sues Developer of CrushAI ‘Nudify’ App

Meta Platforms launches lawsuit against company behind CrushAI, as it looks to enforce clamp down…

2 days ago

Google Resolves Global Cloud Outage

Brief Google Cloud outage on Thursday now resolved after impacting other services including Spotify, Discord…

3 days ago

Meta Invests $14.3bn In AI Firm Scale, Poaches CEO

Meta makes huge investment in AI startup Scale AI, whose founder and CEO Alexandr Wang…

3 days ago

Micron Increases US Investment Amid Trump Onshoring Drive

American chip firm Micron expands investment plan in America by $30bn to $200bn, including two…

3 days ago

Paragon Spyware Used To Target European Journalists, Warns Citizen Labs

Security researchers at Citizen Labs reveals devices of a number of Italian journalists have been…

3 days ago

WhatsApp Supports Apple In Legal Battle With UK Government

Meta's messaging platform WhatsApp publicly supports Apple in its legal battle against the UK's Home…

4 days ago