NASA, SpaceX successfully launch four astronauts to the ISS

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft was launched on Sunday, November 15 (photo via NASA / Joel Kowsky)

SpaceX on Sunday became the first private company to launch humans on the International Space Station.

On Sunday at 7:27 pm EST, three NASA astronauts – Shannon Walker, Victor Glover and Michael Hopkins – and JAXA specialist Soichi Noguchi, took off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, bound for the ISS.

Previously scheduled for launch on Halloween, the mission was postponed until mid-November, giving SpaceX more time to evaluate what NASA called a Falcon 9’s “non-nominal behavior”. The wait has paid off and the Crew Dragon spacecraft, nicknamed Resilience, is set to dock autonomously at the space station around 11pm this evening. Tune into NASA television or the agency’s website for live coverage of the mooring, hatch opening and welcome ceremony.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the work we have done here today,” SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement. “The Falcon 9 looked fantastic, Dragon launched into a beautiful orbit about 12 minutes into the mission and we will have more data as we go.”

Walker, Glover, Hopkins and Noguchi join Expedition 64 members Kate Rubins, Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov for a six-month mission aboard the ISS. The new team will also be there to welcome the Russian Soyuz vehicle and the upcoming SpaceX Crew Dragon in 2021.

Sunday’s historic launch, the first of six flights under the NASA / SpaceX Commercial Crew Program, paves the way for a future of routine launches, transporting international scientists to and from the ISS. After the end of NASA’s Space Shuttle program in 2011, the agency was forced to rely on Russia to bring astronauts to the floating laboratory.

“NASA is maintaining its commitment to the American people and our international partners to provide safe, reliable and affordable missions to the International Space Station using American private industry,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement. .

“This is an important mission for NASA, SpaceX and our partners at JAXA,” he continued. “And we can’t wait to see this crew arrive [the] station to carry forward our partnership for all humanity “.