SpaceX successfully launches international astronauts on space station mission

News, US March 3, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

SpaceX and NASA launched a joint astronaut mission to send a new batch of astronauts for six months-long rotation mission at the International Space Station (ISS). The launch took place on March 2, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S.

The mission carried four astronauts into space. Two U.S. astronauts, one Russian cosmonaut, and one United Arab Emirates astronauts are on their way to spend the next six months at International Space Station. SpaceX used its autonomously flying Crew Dragon capsule to carry the four astronauts. The capsule is due to arrive and dock at the ISS about 25 hours after the launch.

The crew is led by a 59-year-old U.S. Navy submarine officer, Stephen Bowen. This is not the first time Bowen is headed to space, he has spent more than 40 days in orbit and holds experienced seven spacewalks. Bowen is accompanied by 37-year-old NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg an electrical engineer, computer science expert, and commercial aviator designated, who is making his first spaceflight.

The crew also includes UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, 41, only the second person from his country to fly to space, and 42-year-old Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who is an engineer and spaceflight rookie designated as a mission specialist for the team.

BLAST OFF!! @NASA’s @SpaceX Crew-6 mission has launched from Launch Complex 39A on its way to the @Space_Station. pic.twitter.com/SiwtpMeXeq
— NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) March 2, 2023

The team of four men would conduct at least 200 different experiments in space, ranging from research on human cell growth in space to controlling combustible materials in microgravity. The mission would play an important role in determining the duration of the human expedition on the Moon under NASA’s ambitious Artemis program.

The recent mission has been termed Crew 6 mission, as it is the sixth long-duration ISS team mission flow to space by the private rocket venture, SpaceX. Founded by the billionaire Elon Musk, SpaceX has developed highly efficient reusable rockets that have been sending astronaut and equipment missions into space for NASA since May 2020.

The ISS is jointly run by space agencies from Russia, Japan, Canada, the U.S., and Europe. The first ISS component was launched in 1998 and the first long-term resident astronauts of the ISS arrived at the station in November 2000. It has been more than 21 years since then that the station has been continuously occupied by astronauts from all the participant countries. With an estimated cost of $150 billion, the ISS is described as the single most expensive item ever constructed by mankind.

*^{NASA’s SpaceX Crew6 mission ready for launch at the Kennedy Space Center. (Image Credit: Twitter/@NASAKennedy)}*

The ISS was supposed to end its operations in 2024, however, NASA formally extended the date of its operations until 2030 after being instructed by the White House in 2021. Russia’s Roscosmos had shown its reservations towards NASA’s decision to extend the ISS operations till 2030. Russia plans to quit the International Space Station (ISS) by 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost in space.