The start had to be postponed due to bad weather, now the third manned mission of the private space company SpaceX has successfully started. The international crew is on their way to the ISS.
Three men and a woman set off for 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 the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida, announced SpaceX and the US space agency NASA. Due to unfavorable weather forecasts, the start originally planned for Thursday had been postponed to today. The four astronauts are expected at the ISS on Saturday.
For the first time an ESA astronaut on board
The “Crew-2” consists of the two US astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur as well as their Japanese colleague Akihiko Hoshide and the French Thomas Pesquet. Pesquet is the first astronaut from the European space agency ESA to fly to the ISS on board a “Crew Dragon”. This is the second crew to be promoted to the ISS by SpaceX. The first docked with the ISS in November. They are scheduled to return to Earth at the end of April. “Crew-1” was the first to fly regularly with the “Crew Dragon” to the ISS after a manned test last spring was successful. After a break of almost nine years, the test was the first time astronauts were launched into orbit from American soil. And it was the first time ever that they were promoted by a private space company. SpaceX had previously only transported cargo to the ISS.
NASA no longer builds missiles
SpaceX is the space company of Elon Musk, who wants to open up space as a new field of activity. The US agency NASA has withdrawn from building rockets.
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