Crew Dragon spacecraft with commercial tourists launched to the ISS



01/19/2024 2:42 AM


SpaceX announced on Friday that the Crew Dragon reusable manned spaceship carrying space tourists on board was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) as a component of the Axiom commercial program.



Official SpaceX Photos via flickr
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched the ship from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 4:49 p.m. U.S. East Coast time on Thursday.

The ship's crew includes former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who is serving as acting captain, Italian pilot Walter Villadei, mission experts Markus Wandt, a Swede, and Alper Gezeravci, a Turkish national.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft is expected to connect with the International Space Station on Friday at 05:13 U.S. East Coast time.

The four-person crew will operate alongside the existing station crew while aboard the ISS as part of the third Axiom mission (Ax-3) for approximately two weeks. The visitors will carry out thirty scientific experiments.

The ship carrying the guests will have to land in the Atlantic after the ISS mission is over.

source: reuters.com


More