SpaceX Crew-2: Watch live as rocket blasts off on International Space Station mission – World News
SpaceX Crew-2 has successfully blasted off sending four astronauts towards the International Space Station (ISS) in a first manned mission using recycled rocket boosters.
The flight – the first to crewed by three men and a woman – took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10.50am GMT.
Against the inky black of the night sky the 70m tall white and black rocket quickly hit and superseded supersonic speeds as it rose up into orbit.
Shortly after take-off the the crew capsule broke from the rocket, with the Falcon 9 on track to head back to Earth and land on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
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(Image: REUTERS)
The crew is due to arrive at the space station, which orbits some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, early on Saturday following a flight of nearly 24 hours.
The launch window had opened on Thursday but, due to bad conditions, lift-off had to be put back until Friday.
The mission is the first crew propelled into orbit by a rocket booster recycled from a previous spaceflight.
SpaceX has previously used new boosters fresh from the factory for its human launches.
The astronauts were right to trust SpaceX’s spotless track record when it comes to booster re-use for cargo flights as the take off went without a hitch.
(Image: NASA TV/AFP via Getty Images)
(Image: NASA TV/AFP via Getty Images)
This morning’s mission was also the first re-use of a Dragon spacecraft and is a joint venture between Elon Musk’s company, NASA and other space agencies.
It is also the third crewed flight launched to into orbit under NASA’s fledgling public-private partnership with SpaceX.
The first was an out-and-back test mission carrying just two astronauts into orbit last May.
(Image: AUBREY GEMIGNANI/UPI/REX/Shutterstock)
(Image: NASA TV/AFP via Getty Images)
The crew is made up of astronauts from the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA.
Thomas Pesquet (ESA) is joined by Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur (both NASA) and Akihiko Hoshide (JAXA).
The mission will see a number of scientific experiments conducted in space.
These will cover human research, biology, fluid physics, material sciences and environmental sciences.
After successfully docking at the space station, the astronauts of Crew-2 will join the Expedition 65 crew aboard the orbital outpost, including the Crew-1 astronauts still aboard.
After an approximate six-month stay, Dragon and her Crew-2 astronauts will depart from the ISS no earlier than October 31 for return to Earth and splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.
It is Mr Pesquet’s second ISS journey, and during the final month of his stay he will be commander of the ISS.
(Image: Pat Benic/UPI/REX/Shutterstock)
The Crew-1 astronauts are targeted for return in late April or early May.
The Crew Dragon capsule has already flown to the ISS on three occasions, two of which were test flights.
The Falcon 9 previously successfully launched the Crew-1 mission last May.
The helmeted astronauts, dressed in their custom white flight suits and black boots, walked out of the space centre’s operations building a little over three hours prior to launch time, waving to onlookers and bidding goodbye to loved ones.
A caravan of SUVs from Musk’s electric car manufacturer Tesla Inc then drove them to Launch Complex 39A, the rocket pad built during the 1960s and famed as the launch site for the Apollo 11 flight to the moon.
“There’s nothing like it when you look out the window and see a spaceship getting prepared and realize that you’re going to be riding on it in a few days,” McArthur told reporters after arriving at Kennedy Space Center last week.
You can watch the SpaceX live stream on its website, or via its YouTube channel here.
