SpaceX launches joint NASA crew and Japanese astronaut to ISS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- An international crew of four astronauts launched toward the International Space Station from Florida on Friday aboard a SpaceX rocket, beating gloomy weather to embark on a routine NASA mission that could be the first of many to last a couple months longer than usual.
The four-person astronaut crew -- two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and Japanese astronaut -- boarded SpaceX's Dragon capsule sitting atop its Falcon 9 rocket at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and blasted off at 11:43 a.m. ET. They will arrive at the ISS on Saturday.
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Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Japan Times
Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui arrives at International Space Station
Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, 55, arrived at the International Space Station on a U.S. Crew Dragon spacecraft Saturday to join Takuya Onishi, also from Japan, who has been aboard the ISS since March. The 11th Crew Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX, carrying Yui and three others, was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday. The spacecraft was separated from the rocket 10 minutes after the launch and docked with the ISS in the early hours of Saturday. The launch was postponed by a day due to bad weather. Onishi, 49, now in command of the ISS, greeted Yui with a high five after the connecting hatch opened about 80 minutes after the docking. They hugged and celebrated their reunion. At a ceremony held afterward, Onishi welcomed the four astronauts, with Yui expressing his gratitude in English. This is Yui's second space flight and his first since 2015. He is expected to stay in the ISS for about six months. During the period, he will conduct various experiments in the Japanese module Kibo. He may see the first unit of Japan's new cargo transporter HTV-X, a successor to Kounotori, arrive at the ISS. Onishi is slated to return to Earth aboard the Crew-10 as early as Tuesday.


Yomiuri Shimbun
5 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Spacex Delivers Four Astronauts to the International Space Station Just 15 Hours after Launch
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18 hours ago
Japanese Astronaut Yui Arrives at ISS, Joins Onishi
Tokyo, Aug. 2 (Jiji Press)--Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, 55, arrived at the International Space Station on a U.S. Crew Dragon spacecraft Saturday to join Takuya Onishi, also from Japan, who has been aboard the ISS since March. The 11th Crew Dragon spacecraft of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, carrying Yui and three foreign colleagues, was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday local time. The Crew-11 spacecraft was separated from the rocket 10 minutes after the launch and docked with the ISS in the small hours of Saturday. The launch was postponed for one day due to bad weather. Onishi, 49, now in command of the ISS, greeted Yui with a high five after the connecting hatch opened about 80 minutes after the docking. They hugged and celebrated their reunion. At a ceremony held afterward, Onishi welcomed the four astronauts. Yui expressed his gratitude in English. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]