SpaceX Mission: Astronauts Launch Toward the International Space Station | tagesschau.de

The start had to be postponed due to bad weather, and now the third manned mission of the private space company SpaceX has successfully begun. International crew on their way to the International Space Station.

Three men and a woman set off to the International Space Station in a “Crew Dragon” from the private space company SpaceX. The four astronauts were launched in the morning with the help of a Falcon 9 launcher from Cape Canaveral space port in Florida, USA, SpaceX and NASA announced. Due to the unfavorable weather forecast, the originally scheduled start of Thursday has been postponed to today. The four astronauts are expected to arrive at the International Space Station on Saturday.

For the first time an astronaut from the European Space Agency is on board

“Crew 2” consists of the American astronauts Shane Kimbro and Megan MacArthur, in addition to their Japanese colleagues Akihiko Hoshide and the Frenchman Thomas Pesquet. Pesquet is the first astronaut from the European Space Agency (ESA) to fly to the International Space Station aboard the “Crew Dragon”. This is the second crew to be promoted to the International Space Station by SpaceX. The first docked at the International Space Station in November. They are scheduled to return to Earth at the end of April. “Crew-1” was the first to regularly fly with a “Crew Dragon” to the International Space Station after a successful manned test last spring.

After a lapse of nearly nine years, the test marked the first time astronauts had been launched into orbit from US soil. It was the first time it had ever been promoted by a private space company. SpaceX had previously only transported cargo to the International Space Station.

NASA no longer manufactures rockets

SpaceX is the space company of Elon Musk, who wants to open up space as a new field of activity. NASA has withdrawn from building the missiles.