Head in the stars.
Before the eyes of the world, Elon Musk's Space X rocket carried Thomas Pesquet and three other astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
As expected, after careful preparation, the craft took off at 11:49 am (French time) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida (United States).
At around 8:30 am, the crew left for the launch pad in Tesla Model Xs.
Tesla, another company of Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX who built the Falcon9 rocket and the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Once at the firing point, the astronauts were then able to make a final call to their loved ones.
Arrival on the ISS in 23 hours
At 9:14 am, Thomas Pesquet and his comrades then boarded the Crew Dragon capsule and carried out an endless checklist before the long-awaited take-off.
“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition!
», The Falcon9 pierces the American sky in a large plume of smoke.
According to NASA forecasts, the machine must then dock with the ISS 23 hours later (so Saturday mid-morning).
Once on the ISS, the four astronauts will join the seven current occupants of the station: the three crew members of the Soyuz-MS-18 mission who arrived in early April, and the four members of the Crew-1 mission, who took the first manned flight operated by SpaceX last November.
These are the four that Thomas Pesquet and his companions come to meet.
Back to a morning of suspense!
1. Successful takeoff for the Falcon9!
2. The crew (Thomas Pesquet is on the left) is well installed
3. The wait for the astronauts
4. Entry into the Crew Dragon
5. Arrival at the entrance of the rocket
6. Elon Musk accompanied the astronauts to the launch pad
7. The stress begins to mount before reaching the machine
8. Departure in Tesla towards the launch pad
9. The weather did not play a bad shot this time at NASA
10. Last moment before the start of the mission for the crew
