OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Four astronauts who are members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission have arrived for a science expedition aboard the International Space Station.
After launching Thursday from NASA's Space Launch Complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, U.S. astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov entered the International Space Station following Dragon's hatch opening at 9:19 p.m. EDT.
'Crew-13 is another demonstration of America's unmatched capability in human spaceflight and the strength of our commercial partnerships,' said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. 'Jessica, Luke, Joshua, and Sergey will carry forward important work aboard the International Space Station while helping us build the experience and capabilities needed for ambitious missions to the Moon and beyond. Congratulations to the crew and the NASA and SpaceX teams who made today's launch possible.'
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled a Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying the astronauts. The spacecraft docked autonomously to the forward port of the station's Harmony module at 7.05 p.m.
At 7-hours and 55-minutes, this marked the fastest launch-to-docking of a U.S. spacecraft in the history of the International Space Station.
Crew-13 now joins Expedition 75 crew, which includes American astronauts Jessica Meir,?Jack Hathaway, and Anil Menon, European astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Anna Kikina, and Andrey Fedyaev already aboard the orbiting laboratory.
After a brief handover, four members of the SpaceX Crew-12 mission - Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot, and Andrey Fedyaev - will return to Earth.
During its mission, Crew-13 will help advance research aboard the orbiting laboratory by using microgravity to produce human stem cell-derived tissues for improved personalized medicine, disease modeling, and pharmaceutical testing for conditions such as heart disease and Parkinson's. The crew also will explore crop production through a new, mostly autonomous plant growth system and test how plants grow outside dedicated facilities. In addition, the crew members will continue human-health studies that examine factors linked to blood-flow abnormalities in microgravity and will test a new inflight diagnostic device to monitor astronaut health.
Crew-13 is part of NASA's Low Earth Orbit Program, which partners with private companies to provide reliable access to space, support research and development aboard the space station, and enable future missions beyond low Earth orbit.
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