NASA and SpaceX sent four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, after a first attempt was canceled the day before. The Dragon capsule, carried by a Falcon 9 rocket, took off at 3:27 a.m. (7:27 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the mission team called “Crew-7” on board, in front of about 10,000 people.
The mission is commanded by the American Jasmin Moghbeli and includes the Dane Andreas Mogensen, the Japanese Satoshi Furukawa and the Russian Konstantin Borissov. “We’ve lifted off,” NASA announced on X (ex-Twitter), and cheers could then be heard from the control room as the capsule separated from the rocket.
“We may be from four different countries, but we are a united team with a common mission,” Jasmin Moghbeli said after the split. Liftoff was originally scheduled to take place on Friday, but was postponed to examine a component of the Dragon capsule.
This is Konstantin Borissov and Jasmin Moghbeli’s first space trip. “What I’m most looking forward to is looking at our planet from above,” the Iranian-born MIT graduate said at a press conference last month. “Everyone I spoke to who had ever flown said it was a life-changing view.” “Flying in space is something I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember,” the US Navy test pilot also said.
Konstantin Borissov told him he was looking forward to “this adventure” after “very intense training”. This is the seventh regular crew rotation mission operated by SpaceX, the company of billionaire Elon Musk, for NASA. NASA is paying SpaceX for the service, which has reduced reliance on Russia to get crews to the International Space Station since the US Space Shuttle stopped flying in 2011.
NASA has also signed a contract with Boeing for the development of a second American means of transport to the ISS. But Boeing’s program has suffered countless delays, and the first manned test flight is now not scheduled until after March 2024.
Konstantin Borissov will be the third Russian to travel aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, powered by a Falcon 9 rocket. Despite heightened diplomatic tensions between Washington and Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine, collaboration between the agencies American and Russian spacecraft continues in the ISS. One of the rare subjects of cooperation still in progress between the two countries.
After a trip of about a day, the crew will arrive at the International Space Station. He will stay about six months aboard this flying laboratory, where he will carry out multiple scientific experiments. In particular, they will collect samples outside the capsule to see if it releases microorganisms into space through its ventilation system, and if these can survive and reproduce in space. A few days after the arrival of Crew-7, the crew of the Crew-6 mission will leave the station to return to Earth.
The station began construction in 1998, and has been manned continuously by an international crew since 2001. It is expected to continue operating until at least 2030, after which it will be scheduled to return to Earth and s crash into the ocean. Several private companies are currently working on commercial space station projects to replace it.
