On April 23, 2021, NASA and commercial rocket company SpaceX launched a new four-member crew spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS), marking the first human mission reusing rocket booster recycled from the previous spaceflights.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, the Endeavour, took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 09:49 GMT. The operation to the space station is scheduled to last 24 hours.
The SpaceX operation to the International Space Station was scheduled to begin on April 22, 2021. However, due to unfavourable weather conditions along the spaceflight’s route the launch was delayed.
For today’s launch, meteorologists forecast 90% chance of good weather conditions at the launch site as well as along the rocket’s path.
NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet are set to stay in the International Space Station for about six months.