The astronauts on the Crow-4 mission headed to the space station overnight

One hour ago, SpaceX launched a crew-4 mission, including three NASA astronauts and a European space Agency astronaut, to the International space station in Earth orbit./p>

A manned Dragon capsule carrying four Crew-4 astronauts an hour ago at 03:52 AM Eastern Time Zone (12:22 Tehran time) by a Falcon 9 rocket from Central 39B platform NASA's Kennedy Spacecraft Launched in Florida.

• What you need to know about NASA's Crow-4 mission to the space station

About nine minutes after launch, the Falcon 9 rocket booster successfully returned to Earth and landed on a drone in the Atlantic to prepare for future missions. Meanwhile, the Dragon spacecraft detached from the upper stage of the rocket to make its way to the International space station alone.

Falcon 9 rocket returns to Earth
Credit: NASA

(Freedom), at 21:45 Eastern Time Zone (06:15 tomorrow morning Tehran time) arrives at the International space station and about an hour and a half later, after the full compression process is completed, the vents between the two spacecraft open.

As the name suggests, the Crow-4 mission will be the fourth manned operational mission that SpaceX will conduct for NASA to the Earth Orbital Lab.

NASA and SpaceX mission crew astronauts moments before launch
Credit: SpaceX

mission of "Kjell Lindgren", "Robert Hines" NASA's Jessica Watkins as well as European space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will be flown to the International space Station. The past was planned but was indirectly delayed due to bad weather. In fact, the mission will have to wait for the seas to calm down in the landing area of the Ax-1 Axiom space mission. A mission that joined the station in recent weeks to usher in a new era of access to more orbital missions.

Crow-4 astronauts in Earth orbit
Credit: NASA

Ax-1 was the first completely private manned mission to the ISS, and the spacecraft was the same port Occupied the space station that the crew-4 crew intended to use. NASA also says a two-day gap between returning from a previous mission and launching a new mission will help pave the way for data analysis and other preparation.

The X-1 mission is five days longer than originally planned Stayed on the International space station for 15 days. But Crow-4 astronauts will stay much longer. The crew is expected to remain in Earth orbit for about six months, which is the usual time for an ISS mission.

Source: Space