SpaceX flight with first Black female commander sets US speed record
SpaceX delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station in just eight hours, the fastest trip ever made by a US entity. The mission's commander, Jessica Watkins, became the first Black woman to lead a crew into orbit.
Four astronauts arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday after an eight-hour flight, the quickest journey ever completed by any American company or agency, including Nasa. The mission also made history in another way: its commander, Jessica Watkins, became the first Black woman to lead a crew to orbit.
The launch took place from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida following a three-week delay caused by a leaking fuel system in the SpaceX Dragon capsule. Thick clouds threatened the countdown throughout the morning, but skies cleared enough for a safe liftoff.
Watkins, a geologist who worked on Nasa's Curiosity Mars rover mission a decade ago, is making her second trip to the ISS after a lengthy stay in 2022. Following liftoff, she radioed thanks for an "amazing ride."
Three of her crewmates are flying to space for the first time: Nasa's Luke Delaney, a retired marine; Canada's Joshua Kutryk, a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force; and Russia's Sergey Teteryatnikov, a former submariner. They will take over from four astronauts who have lived aboard the station since February. The new crew's stay will last six months.
This was the 13th crew SpaceX has launched for Nasa, not counting a 2020 test flight, and the mission patch nods to the historic Apollo 13 mission. The crew rode to the launch pad in black Teslas bearing "Lucky 13" license plates and brought along a small crocheted golden dragon with a four-leaf clover as a good-luck charm.
Kutryk's wife, Heather, is due to give birth to their third child in late November while he is in orbit, making him the fourth man to become a father during a spaceflight. Nasa and the Canadian Space Agency have pledged to help keep him connected with his family.
The same week, SpaceX also launched two other Falcon rockets — one carrying more than 100 small satellites, another with a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office — and reached orbit for the first time with its Starship spacecraft.
