WATCH: NASA launches Crew-13 to International Space Station
Four astronauts rocketed into orbit Thursday on a space station mission that will stretch until spring, among them a Canadian whose wife will give birth while he's away.
Four astronauts launched into orbit on a mission to the International Space Station. The crew, consisting of NASA's Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Joshua Kutryk, and Russian Sergey Teteryatnikov, blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. According to Phys.org, Watkins became the first Black woman to lead a crew to orbit.
The mission, which will last until spring, marks the second trip to the space station for Watkins, a geologist who previously worked with NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. Delaney, a retired Marine, Kutryk, a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and Teteryatnikov, a former submariner, are newcomers to space. Phys.org reports that one of the astronauts, Kutryk, has a wife who is expecting to give birth while he is away.
The launch was initially delayed by three weeks due to issues with the capsule's leaking fuel system. Despite thick clouds threatening to halt the countdown, the skies cleared enough to allow for a safe liftoff. The crew's transit to the space station was completed in just eight hours, with arrival expected before bedtime.
Brief written by urgent.news from PBS NewsHour, PBS NewsHour Science, Hindustan Times - World News, Phys.org, CBS News — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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