SpaceX launched its Crew-13 mission for Nasa on Thursday, sending four astronauts towards the International Space Station after a three-week delay to repair a leaking fuel system on their Dragon capsule.
Commander Jessica Watkins led the crew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, becoming the first Black woman to lead a crew into orbit. The geologist, who previously worked with Nasa’s Curiosity Mars rover, is returning to the space station after a long stay there in 2022.
Thick cloud had threatened to postpone the launch again, but conditions cleared sufficiently for the countdown to proceed. The astronauts are expected to reach the station after an eight-hour journey, the quickest such transit yet for a SpaceX crewed flight.
“Thanks for an amazing ride,” Watkins radioed after the spacecraft reached orbit.
She is joined by Nasa astronaut Luke Delaney, a retired Marine, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk, a Royal Canadian Air Force colonel, and Russian astronaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, a former submariner. All three are making their first journey into space.
The mission is scheduled to last six months, replacing four astronauts who have been living aboard the orbiting laboratory since February.
For Kutryk, the mission will include a major family milestone on Earth. His wife, Heather, is due to give birth to their third child in late November, making him the fourth man to become a father while orbiting the Earth.
The Canadian Space Agency has promised support for the family, while Nasa officials said they would help keep Kutryk connected with events at home. In previous missions, astronauts have been linked by radio to their wives’ hospital rooms during childbirth.
Crew-13 is the 13th crewed mission SpaceX has launched for Nasa, excluding the company’s test flight in 2020. The crew’s mission patch pays tribute to Apollo 13, whose astronauts returned safely after their 1970 Moon mission suffered a serious emergency.
The number featured prominently before and after launch. The astronauts travelled to the launch pad in black Teslas with number plates reading “Lucky 13” and carried a small crocheted golden dragon called Lucky, wearing a four-leaf clover.
“We figured it wouldn’t hurt to bring a little of our own luck just in case, but clearly we don’t need it,” Watkins said from orbit. She described the crew as “four of the luckiest humans on or off planet Earth.”
