SpaceX describes surgical intervention before launch of latest crew mission
Summary
Four astronauts launched from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to begin a six-month mission on the International Space Station (ISS). The launch was delayed to fix a valve problem inside the spacecraft, and the crew includes Jessica Watkins, the first Black woman to command a spacecraft.Key Facts
- The crew launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, using a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.
- The launch occurred at 11:10 am EDT on a Thursday and reached orbit nine minutes later.
- The mission is called Crew-13 and will last six months aboard the ISS.
- Jessica Watkins, a 38-year-old geologist and astronaut, leads the crew and is the first Black woman to command a spacecraft.
- The launch was delayed from mid-September to replace a faulty valve in the propulsion system of the Dragon spacecraft.
- The other crew members are Luke Delaney (pilot), Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.
- The spacecraft will dock with the ISS about eight hours after launch, marking the fastest US launch-to-docking time.
- SpaceX has conducted 13 crew rotation missions under contract with NASA and helped restore US astronaut launches after the Space Shuttle ended in 2011.
Read the Full Article
This is a fact-based summary from The Actual News. Click below to read the complete story directly from the original source.
