On March 2nd, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was launched into space carrying the Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft lifts off.
At 12:34 PM local time on March 2nd, the Dragon spacecraft was launched from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Southeastern United States.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated NASA and SpaceX for executing another historic mission to the ISS. The Dragon spacecraft is expected to dock with the ISS at 1:17 AM (U.S. time) on March 3rd after a 24-hour journey.
This marks the sixth crew rotation to the ISS facilitated by NASA. The crew includes NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Woody Hoburg, Sultan Alneyadi from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Andrey Fedyaev from Russia, who will participate in a scientific research mission aboard the ISS.
According to NASA, this crew will remain on the ISS for six months before returning to Earth.
Initially, the launch was scheduled for February 27th, but just two minutes before the scheduled liftoff, NASA announced a postponement due to issues with the ground systems.
SpaceX later reported that fuel was removed from the rocket and the astronauts exited the spacecraft.
