2023-08-26 18:24:23
NASA and SpaceX sent four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, after a first attempt was canceled the day before.
Published on: 08/26/2023 – 18:24
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The Dragon capsule, carried away by a rocket Falcon 9, lifted off at 3:27 a.m. (7:27 a.m. UT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the mission team codenamed “Crew-7″ on board, in front of about 10,000 people. The mission is commanded by the American Jasmin Moghbeli and includes the Dane Andreas Mogensen, the Japanese Satoshi Furukawa and the Russian Konstantin Borissov. ” We took off announced NASA on X (ex-Twitter), and we could then hear cheers coming from the control room when the capsule separated from the rocket.
« We may be from four different countries, but we are a united team with a common mission “said Jasmin Moghbeli after the separation. Liftoff was originally scheduled to take place on Friday, but was postponed to examine a component of the Dragon capsule.
« Look at our planet from above »
This is Konstantin Borissov and Jasmin Moghbeli’s first space trip. ” What I’m most looking forward to is looking at our planet from above “, said at a press conference last month the latter, a graduate of MIT and of Iranian origin. ” Everyone I spoke to who had ever flown said it was a life changing perspective. “Flying in space” is something i have wanted to do for as long as i can remember “, had also declared this test pilot of the u.s. navy.
Konstantin Borissov told him he was looking forward to living ” this adventure ” after a ” very intense training “. Konstantin Borissov will be the third Russian to travel aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, powered by a Falcon 9 rocket. Despite heightened diplomatic tensions between Washington and Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine, collaboration between the agencies American and Russian spacecraft continues in the ISS – one of the few areas of cooperation still in progress between the two countries.
Seventh mission operated by SpaceX
This is the seventh regular crew rotation mission operated by SpaceX, the company of billionaire Elon Musk, for NASA. NASA is paying SpaceX for the service, which has reduced reliance on Russia to get crews to the International Space Station since the US Space Shuttle stopped flying in 2011.
NASA has also signed a contract with Boeing for the development of a second American means of transport to the ISS. But Boeing’s program has suffered countless delays, and the first manned test flight is now not scheduled until after March 2024.
(With AFP)
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