At 7:27 p.m. EST on Sunday, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon “Resilience” spacecraft lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Anika Khan reports.
- The Falcon rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida thundered into the sky with three Americans and one Japanese astronaut.
- The crew comprises three men and one woman: Commander Mike Hopkins who is an Air Force Colonel, physicist Shannon Walker, Navy Commander Victor Glover, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Soichi Moguchi.
- This is the second crew to be launched by SpaceX. The capsule is due to reach the space station after 27 and a half hours and remain there till spring.
- SpaceX founder Elon Musk monitored the action from afar as he had a moderate case of COVID-19.
- The launch comes a few months after SpaceX sent two-pilot test flights with Nasa.
- Nasa administrator Jim Bridgenstine said that, “This is another historic moment”.
- The flight to the space station is entirely automated. However the crew can take control in case of emergency.
- The astronauts have went into quarantine with their families in October due to safety precautions.