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SpaceX and NASA launches 4 astronauts into orbit on mission to ISS
SpaceX reused both the Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon capsule for the mission.
Dimapur, April 23 (EMN): Elon Musk‘s SpaceX in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has successfully launched four astronauts into space on Friday, April 23.
The SpaceX Crew-2 mission is the first-ever crew mission to reach orbit using a rocket booster recycled from a previous spaceflight. The launch marks the third crewed flight launched into orbit under NASA’s blossoming partnership with SpaceX.
The spacecraft, named Endeavour by the crew, lifted off at 5.49.02 a.m. EDT from the Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew Dragon capsule will undertake a 23.5-hour journey before docking with the International Space Station at 5:10 am (09:10 GMT) on Saturday.
The mission consists of four astronauts namely, Thomas Pesquet, Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, and Akihiko Hoshide. The Crew-2 astronauts will join the other members of Expedition 65, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos, for a six-month mission conducting science experiments in low-Earth orbit.
This is also the first time that SpaceX has reused both the Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon capsule to launch astronauts for NASA. The Crew Dragon capsule was used by SpaceX’s debut crew last May and the Falcon 9 rocket was used last November on SpaceX’s second astronaut flight.
An important scientific focus on this expedition is continuing a series of Tissue Chips in Space studies. Tissue chips are small models of human organs containing multiple cell types that behave much the same as they do in the body. The expedition will conduct other microgravity science investigations as well as complete maintenance and upgrades to the space station.
NASA and SpaceX are also continuing to prepare for the Crew-3 mission, targeted as early as October 23, followed by the return of Crew-2 earlier than October 31, NASA said.
This article has been edited by Eastern Mirror and taken from a syndicated news feed.
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