KENNEDY Space Center: Sunday night saw the launch of three American astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut from Florida for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station.
At 10:53 p.m., the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from the Kennedy Space Center, illuminating the night sky with a lengthy, brilliant orange flame plume. According to Nasa TV analysts, the rocket reached a speed of 6,000 miles per hour minutes after launch as it raced over the Atlantic. As it readied itself to dock with the International Space Station and release four additional crew members, the capsule took approximately nine minutes to enter orbit.
Because of strong winds, the mission’s initial launch attempt was canceled. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has previously launched Endeavour, the capsule that sent the three men and one woman into orbit, four times.
Under the US space agency’s Commercial Crew Program, the firm has been launching astronauts for NASA since 2020; competitor contractor Boeing has not yet completed its accreditation.
Both American astronauts Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps are making their first spaceflights as part of the Crew-8 mission. And for Alexander Grebenkin, a Russian, it will be the first. This is doctor Michael Barratt’s third trip to the International Space Station. The space shuttles, which were decommissioned in 2011, were home to his first two.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, space collaboration between the US and Russia has remained uncommon. In an effort to take retribution for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison, the United States last month imposed new sanctions on 500 Russian targets.
