SpaceX Sets Speed Record for Space Station Flight
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon capsule blasted off from Cape Canaveral, carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station in a record-setting express flight, according to NPR. The flight achieved a U.S. speed record for a spacecraft traveling to the orbiting laboratory, completing the journey in just seven hours and 55 minutes after lifting off from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The mission, designated Crew-13, marks the 13th operational flight launched by SpaceX for NASA, alongside a 2020 test flight. Thick morning clouds threatened to halt the countdown, but skies eventually cleared, allowing a safe liftoff at 11:10 a.m. EDT. The swift transit starkly contrasts with previous American crewed flights; the prior crew launched from U.S. soil required more than 30 hours to reach the orbital outpost, according to reporting by The Guardian. The duration of the trip depends heavily on the physical distance between the space station and the spacecraft at the precise moment of launch.
Jessica Watkins Leads First Black Woman Crew to Orbit
The mission made history when commander Jessica Watkins became the first Black woman to lead a crew to orbit. Watkins, a geologist making her second trip to the space station following a lengthy stay in 2022, radioed back to mission control after liftoff, saying, “Thanks for an amazing ride.” NASA’s head of human spaceflight, Lori Glaze, noted that the launch followed a three-week delay and required extensive troubleshooting to fix a leaking fuel system on the Dragon capsule, named “Grace.”
Joining Watkins on the flight are pilot Luke Delaney, a naval aviator and former marine from Florida making his first trip to space; Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, a former submariner. Kutryk faces a unique milestone during the expedition, as he and his wife are expecting their third child around Thanksgiving, roughly two months into the mission. This event will make them the fourth couple in space travel history to have a child born while one parent is off the planet, according to CBS News.
Crew-13 Replaces Crew-12 at the Space Station
Upon docking at the station’s forward port, the Crew-13 members were welcomed aboard with hugs and handshakes from the seven astronauts already living and working on the outpost. The incoming team will relieve the outgoing Crew-12 members—consisting of commander Jessica Meir, pilot Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev—who are wrapping up a 235-day mission that began in February.
The Crew-12 astronauts are scheduled to make their return trip to Earth the following week, splashing down off the coast of Southern California. Meanwhile, the newly arrived Crew-13 team is slated to spend approximately six months aboard the orbiting laboratory performing station maintenance and conducting science experiments.