SpaceX launched Türkiye's first astronaut on Thursday, along with a Swede and an Italian, to the International Space Station, the third private crew invited by NASA. The Falcon rocket blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, carrying the three aviators and their escort, a retired NASA astronaut who now works for the company that arranged the flight. Their capsule should reach the space station on January 20. They will spend two weeks performing experiments, chatting up schoolchildren and soaking in the views of Earth before returning home. It's costing each of the three countries $55 million or more.