After numerous launch delays and cancellations, NASA, SpaceX and Axiom Space successfully launched the Axiom-4 mission Wednesday morning, sending four astronauts on the fourth private commercial mission to the International Space Station.
Additionally, 13 hours later, SpaceX launched again from Florida, sending a batch of Starlink satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Station's Complex 40.
The first Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Wednesday at 2:31 a.m. ET from pad 39 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. As the countdown ticked to zero and the spacecraft began its journey toward the stars, cheers rang out live from mission control.
“Ax-4 launch!” SpaceX posted on its X page, sharing a 30-second video of the launch.
After confirming that they had reached their target orbit, which happened about 10 minutes after liftoff, mission commander Peggy Whitson, an American, said they were heading to the ISS.
“We’ve had an incredible launch, and we’re excited to set course for the International Space Station aboard the new Dragon spacecraft, named Grace,” Whitson said.
“Grace is more than just a name. It represents the elegance of our movement through space against the backdrop of Earth… Grace reminds us that spaceflight is not only an engineering achievement, but also an act of goodwill for the benefit of all humanity.”
The first stage of the launch vehicle, on its second flight, also returned to Earth and landed successfully at Cape Canaveral Landing Zone 1 approximately eight minutes after liftoff.
Grace and its four-person crew — Whitson, pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India, and mission specialists Slawosz Uzzanski-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary — are expected to dock with the ISS at 7 a.m. ET Thursday.
“With a multinational crew, we are not only expanding scientific horizons, but also promoting international collaboration,” Whitson was quoted as saying by the Axiom Space website.
“Here's a beautiful shot of our launch vehicle patiently waiting to take us into space,” Whitson added in a post Tuesday morning.
The Axiom-4 mission has been subject to multiple delays. The first launch attempt earlier this month was called off due to high winds, and the second was called off after SpaceX discovered a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon 9 rocket.
The launch was canceled again on Sunday to ensure the ISS was ready to receive new crew members, NASA said. The Zvezda service module, the station's orbital laboratory, had recently been repaired, and NASA was conducting data checks to ensure all systems were ready to receive new people.
Houston-based Axiom Space is building the first commercial space station, scheduled to launch by 2030.
The Axiom-4 mission is designed to last 14 days. The crew will conduct 60 science experiments and demonstrations focused on human exploration, Earth observation, and life, biology, and materials sciences, SpaceX said.
“Next: Falcon 9 to launch Axiom Space's Ax-4 mission to the space station.”
Starlink
SpaceX launched 27 satellites at 3:54 p.m. ET.
About 8 minutes later, the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage returned to Earth and landed on the unmanned vessel Just Read The Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
This was the 20th launch of the B1080 booster, which has launched Axiom Mission 2 and Axiom Mission 3, the European Space Agency's Euclid and 13 Starlink missions.
This was the 126th landing of the spacecraft and the 468th landing of the booster, Spaceflightnow reports.
There are already about 8,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.
SpaceX originally scheduled a launch at 1:15 p.m. ET, but then pushed it back to 1:22 p.m., followed by three more delays.
Sourse: www.upi.com
