Cape Canvart, Fla. – Liftoff! Four astronauts are flying towards the International Space Station (ISS) to relieve the members of the crew who have been waiting for a ride home since last summer.
SpaceX launched Crew Dragon Capsule Dheej on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Space Coast in Florida this evening (14 March). Mission, called Crew -10, removed KSC’s launch Complex -39A from EDT (2303 GMT) at 7:03 pm, which takes both NASA mission commander Anne McClane and Mission Pilot Nicole Aarce, and Mission expert Takia Onchisi, Mission expert of Jacks (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).
The quartet is leading for a six -month rotation riding in the ISS and giving relief from its crew -9 counterparts, two of which have rode the orbital laboratory to stay in the last June last June, with the first crew mission of the new Starlineer spacecraft of Boing.
Crew -10 was originally to launch on Wednesday (March 12), but tried that a hydrolics issue with ground equipment. Mission launched about half an hour before sunset today, with Falcon 9 of the mission, the fire put a golden-hour glow on Florida’s Space Coast.
Climbing in the clear sky, the rocket’s engine closed about 2.5 minutes after the lift, followed by a boost -back burn by the stage separation and the first stage of the vehicle, which was about five minutes later, which used to tie themselves for a touchdown on SpaceX’s Landing Zone -1 in Cape Canverals.
Falcon 9 second stage extended for another 7.5 minutes after the separation of the first phase, endangered and its crew into a low Earth’s orbit at a trajectory to catch the ISS within about 28 hours.
“Thanks to all teams around the world who contributed to the launch today,” McClenn said immediately after the picture-perfect spacecraft separation.
“Spaceflight is hard, but humans are hard,” he said. “Today, like days become possible only when people choose difficult rights, form relationships, choose cooperation and believe in the inherent goodness of all people around the world. My family and friends, without you, I will not stay here. Watch boldly, stay with gratitude, and go to the driver team -10!”
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The ISS will be an important milestone in preparation in advance to return some of the current residents of the station as soon as possible from the arrival of crew -10 late on Saturday (March 15).
NASA astronauts Buch Wilmore and Sun. Williams arrived at the ISS in the Starlineer spacecraft of Boeing last June. The pair was blowing the first crew flight test of the capsule, which the pair were expected to stay in orbit for about 10 days before flying on Earth.
However, issues with Starlineer inspired NASA to return the spacecraft last September, after a two -month ground test, the space agency failed to have full confidence in the vehicle to safely return its astronauts at the space agency. Wilmore and Williams rode on ISS to wait for their new ride home.
He arrived at the late September after the departure of the Dragon Capsule Freedom – Starlineer, the crew of the ride – SpaceX. On SpaceX’s crew -9 mission, Freedom launched with only two of the original four astronauts aboard the spacecraft: NASA Astronaut Nick Hague and Roskosmos cosmonot Alexandr Gorbunov.
At the end of the crew -9 rotation, NASA took the two other two crumberries from Crew -9 to leave the seats for Wilmor and Williams during the return journey of the spacecraft. Wilmore and Williams became part of Crew -9 and ISS campaign and became part of the 72 crew after the arrival of independence and assumed typical research and maintenance duties with other long -term residents of the station.
“When we saw the situation at that time, we had a crew -9 launch in front of us. To take an opportunity to bring a crew -9 in front of us, with only two seats and Buch and Suni got a chance to fill, and for the rest of the long -term mission,” March 7 (FRR) told the program manager Dana Weigel, described during briefing during March 7 (FRR).
Connected: ‘We just ran out of time’: Boeing Starlineer Astronaut on why his spacecraft returned to Earth without him
A new crew was tapped to fly on Dragon Crew -10, a new crew made by SpaceX, but facing a delay in its construction, NASA announced a step for the launch of the mission from February to “March”. However, what was transported in later weeks, finally, NASA swapped the new dragon of Crew -10 for a flight, endurance, so that the crew -9 could return as soon as possible.
The reports describing the Starlineer astronauts as “trapped” were relatively to the media in their missions. But after the inauguration of President Trump, the rhetoric increased when he and SpaceX’s founder and CEO Elon Musk repeatedly claimed that the Biden administration “left” in space and “left” in Space. Musk also said that he offered a separate crew dragon to the previous administration, which was particularly launched to “rescue” the Starlineer pair, but the proposal was rejected.
NASA announced the spacecraft swap for the crew -10 in view of these statements by President Trump and Musk, making speculation that the step was politically, rather than politically, rather than being logically motivated. But NASA officials have insisted that the conversation about the need to switch to the mission’s spacecraft began well before the issue became political.
NASA’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stitch said during the FRR call of last week that it is “very special” for the new spacecraft.
“We are always looking and refined,” he said. “We started watching the program, and early this year at that time, at the end of January. When we finally decided that we would go into (endurance).”
To facilitate a smooth handover of responsibilities and to ensure that the space station continuously occupy the crew, the arrival of the crew and the ISS overlap overlap overlap for about a week, as the new astronauts are motivated to their new microgravity environment. Crew -9 was initially slate to return in February, but a stay at the launch of Crew -10 pushed the date of departure below the road. Therefore, to speed up the turnover, NASA has shortened the crew’s overlap for only three days.
In the preparation of his departure, the current campaign 72 commander Williams passed the title to Cosmonot Alexi Ovachinin in a change of command ceremony held at ISS last week. On the arrival of Crew -10, he will pass the title Onishi, who will maintain a role during his six -month tenure.
This is the second time in space for both Onashi and McClane. Onishi first worked as a member of the ISS Expedition 48 and 49, when he launched the Soyuz rocket rocket at the station in 2016, and in 2019, McClen on Expedition 58 and 59. This is the first place for both Aires and Peskov. His mission will focus on microgravity research and its effects on the human body as well as regular station maintenance during his half year.
Crew -10 is for Rendezavas with ISS on Saturday, with an EDT (0330 GMT on March 16) and on Sunday (16 March) at around 1:05 pm EDT (0505 GMT) is expected to open. The coverage of arrival is going to start from EDT (0145 GMT) on Saturday at 9:45 pm and can be seen on NASA. NASA+ Streaming service. If the agency provides it, space.com will take NASA’s feed.
Crew -9’s Dragon Freedom is expected to exit the station after a few days from now, Williams, Willmore, Hague and Gorbunov were returned to Earth under Freedom’s parachute, for a splashdown for a splashdown for a few hours from the coast of Florida.
