The third joint manned mission to space of NASA and SpaceX has already taken off from Florida: this time, the four astronauts in charge of reaching the International Space Station are traveling with a recycled capsule and rocket from the company founded by Elon Musk.
The liftoff occurred just before 6 a.m. Eastern Time, at a perfect time compared to NASA's schedule.
The arrival of the
Dragon
capsule
, which has already been correctly separated from the
Falcon 9
rocket
used to leave for space, is expected in the early hours of the morning of this Saturday.
[Two NASA astronauts enter the International Space Station after traveling with a SpaceX spacecraft]
The mission is led by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.
"I'm glad to be in space again," he said via radio once the capsule was safely in orbit.
He and his crew will spend six months on the Space Station: they will replace four astronauts who are now there and who will return next Wednesday in their own SpaceX capsule.
These are expected to be parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico near Tallahassee, Florida.
In principle, the departure of the new mission was expected on Thursday, but it was decided to delay it due to bad weather at sea.
This is because SpaceX's Dragon capsule requires calm waves and winds in case an emergency landing is needed during ascent into orbit.
The weather forecast for Friday is much better, according to authorities.
The other three astronauts who make up the mission represent the United States (two of them), France and Japan.
"Our friends from the Space Station are waiting for us and we don't want to be late," tweeted French astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
“They even recently installed my room and literally made my bed.
What good hosts! ”, He added.
For the first time, Elon Musk's company launched astronauts with a capsule and rocket that they have previously flown, just as it does with the station's supply tours.
The capsule in which the crew travels was used last May for the first manned mission of NASA and SpaceX.
The rocket, instead, was used for the second manned mission, in November.
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To celebrate Earth Day, Kimbrough tweeted a photo of the beach taken at sunrise from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Thursday.
"An amazing way to appreciate our planet this morning!" He said.
In addition to Kimbrough and Pesquet, the crew includes Megan McArthur, also from NASA, and Akihiko Hoshide from Japan.
With information from AP.
