NASA and SpaceX launched the Crew-13 mission from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, sending four astronauts toward the International Space Station for a six-month science expedition.
The Dragon spacecraft carried NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. Liftoff took place at 11:10 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40.
Dragon reached orbit successfully
NASA confirmed that the Falcon 9 first stage completed its return landing and that the Dragon spacecraft safely reached orbit. The trip to the station was scheduled to take just under eight hours.
The flight is the 13th crew rotation mission operated by SpaceX under NASA’s commercial crew program and the 14th crewed Dragon flight for the agency when the Demo-2 test mission is included.
Research will focus on human health and long missions
During their stay, Crew-13 will support research into blood circulation, human tissue, medical diagnostics and crop production in microgravity. NASA says the work is intended to improve health on Earth while also preparing for longer missions to the Moon and Mars.
The mission also continues international cooperation aboard the ISS, with astronauts and cosmonauts from several agencies working together despite broader geopolitical tensions.
Sources: NASA Crew-13 release and mission blog; Reuters; Associated Press.
