Falcon 9 blasts off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 26, 2023. /AP
Carrying four astronauts of different nationalities in its Crew Dragon capsule, SpaceX's reusable rocket Falcon 9 blasted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday.
The mission, known as Crew-7, will bring the group up to the International Space Station (ISS) after a one-day journey to replace the four astronauts who have been living there since March.
The four astronauts head to board Falcon 9 on a mission to the ISS on August 26, 2023. /AP
Crew-7 consists of NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli as the commander, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen from Denmark as the pilot, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov as mission specialists. They are designed to stay in orbit for six months.
It is part of the 14-mission contract that SpaceX has for NASA's Commercial Crew program. Saturday's launch brings the number of astronauts the company has launched to 42 since its first crewed launch in May 2020.