[The livestream began at 8:30 a.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see the video player above.]
SpaceX launched four people to the International Space Station from Florida on Wednesday, as Elon Musk’s company maintains a steady pace of manned missions.
NASA’s mission, known as Crew-5, will move the group to the International Space Station for six months in orbit. The mission is NASA’s fifth operational crew launch to date, and the company’s eighth human spaceflight in just over two years.
“It was a smooth, rough ride,” NASA astronaut and 5 crew leader Nicole Mann said after the spacecraft reached orbit, adding that “you have three newbies who are happy to be floating in space now.”
The Crew-5 mission brings the number of astronauts SpaceX has launched to 30, including government and private missions, since it was first launched in May 2020.
Crew-5 disembarked on Earth shortly after 12:00 p.m. ET, beginning a nearly 29-hour journey to dock with the International Space Station.
Left to right: Russian astronaut Anna Kikina, NASA astronaut Josh Casada, NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata arrive before the launch of the SpaceX Crew-5 mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 5, 2022.
Jim Watson | Afp | Getty Images
SpaceX launched astronauts in a Crew Dragon capsule called Endurance, atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Both the rocket and capsule are reusable.
The Endurance Corporation is flying into space for the second time — having flown the Crew-3 mission to and from the International Space Station last year.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a Crew Dragon capsule stands on the Pad-39A in preparation for a mission to carry four crew members to the International Space Station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Oct. 4, 2022.
Joe Skipper | Reuters