CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four astronauts from 4 international locations rocketed towards the International Space Station on Saturday.
They ought to attain the orbiting lab of their SpaceX capsule Sunday, changing 4 astronauts dwelling up there since March.
A NASA astronaut was joined on the predawn liftoff from Kennedy Space Center by fliers from Denmark, Japan and Russia. They clasped each other’s gloved fingers upon reaching orbit.
It was the primary U.S. launch the place each spacecraft seat was occupied by a unique nation — till now, NASA had all the time included two or three of its personal on its SpaceX taxi flights. A fluke in timing led to the assignments, officers mentioned.
“We’re a united team with a common mission,” NASA’s Jasmin Moghbeli radioed from orbit. Added NASA’s Ken Bowersox, house operations mission chief: “Boy, what a beautiful launch … and with four international crew members, really an exciting thing to see.”
Moghbeli, a Marine pilot serving as commander, is joined on the six-month mission by the European Space Agency’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa and Russia’s Konstantin Borisov.
“To explore space, we need to do it together,” the European Space Agency’s director basic, Josef Aschbacher, mentioned minutes earlier than liftoff. “Space is really global, and international cooperation is key.”
The astronauts’ paths to house couldn’t be extra completely different.
Moghbeli’s mother and father fled Iran in the course of the 1979 revolution. Born in Germany and raised on New York’s Long Island, she joined the Marines and flew assault helicopters in Afghanistan. The first-time house traveler hopes to point out Iranian women that they, too, can intention excessive. “Belief in yourself is something really powerful,” she mentioned earlier than the flight.
Mogensen labored on oil rigs off the West African coast after getting an engineering diploma. He informed folks puzzled by his job alternative that “in the future we would need drillers in space” like Bruce Willis’ character within the killer asteroid movie “Armageddon.” He’s satisfied the rig expertise led to his choice as Denmark’s first astronaut.
Furukawa spent a decade as a surgeon earlier than making Japan’s astronaut minimize. Like Mogensen, he’s visited the station earlier than.
Borisov, an area rookie, turned to engineering after learning enterprise. He runs a freediving college in Moscow and judges the game, during which divers shun oxygen tanks and maintain their breath underwater.
One of the perks of a global crew, they famous, is the meals. Among the delicacies hovering: Persian herbed stew, Danish chocolate and Japanese mackerel.
SpaceX’s first-stage booster returned to Cape Canaveral a number of minutes after liftoff, an additional deal with for the hundreds of spectators gathered within the early-morning darkness.
Liftoff was delayed a day for added information evaluations of valves within the capsule’s life-support system. The countdown virtually was halted once more Saturday after a tiny gasoline leak cropped up within the capsule’s thruster system. SpaceX engineers managed to confirm the leak would pose no menace with barely two minutes remaining on the clock, mentioned Benji Reed, the corporate’s senior director for human spaceflight.
Another NASA astronaut will launch to the station from Kazakhstan in mid-September below a barter settlement, together with two Russians.
SpaceX has now launched eight crews for NASA. Boeing was employed on the identical time almost a decade in the past, however has but to fly astronauts. Its crew capsule is grounded till 2024 by parachute and different points.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives assist from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely answerable for all content material.
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