CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX has launched its third crew in under a year for NASA, this time using a recycled rocket and capsule.
A Falcon rocket carrying four astronauts blasted toward orbit early Friday morning from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet will launch on the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
The Dragon capsule should reach the International Space Station on Saturday.
It’s the same capsule that carried up the first SpaceX crew last May. And the rocket hoisted the second crew in November.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk met briefly with the U.S., French and Japanese astronauts before they headed to the launch pad.
