SpaceX Launches Crew After NASA, Russia Space Chief Meeting

A SpaceX capsule carrying astronauts from the US, Japan and Russia launched to the International Space Station on Friday, the start of a planned six-month stay in orbit for NASA.

A Falcon 9 rocket topped with the crew’s Dragon capsule lifted off at 11:44 a.m. local time from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. 

Elon Musk-led SpaceX originally attempted to launch the mission on Thursday but halted the countdown roughly a minute before liftoff citing unfavorable weather conditions.

The crew is aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour, which is flying for the sixth time since its debut in 2020. Originally, NASA had certified Crew Dragon spacecraft to fly as many as five times, but the agency is working to extend that certification to reach 15 flights.

“We’ve had to go through and do a recertification effort of Dragon working hand in hand with SpaceX to get to six flights,” Steve Stich, the program manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, said during a press conference last month.

On Thursday ahead of the launch, the head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, Dmitry Bakanov, met with NASA’s acting administrator, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy at Kennedy Space Center to discuss continued cooperation and collaboration in space, a NASA spokesperson told Bloomberg News. 

Bakanov arrived in the US on Tuesday for talks with Duffy and to visit SpaceX facilities, according to a Roscosmos statement. The meeting marked the first time two heads of NASA and Roscosmos have met in person since 2018, and it was the first meeting between Duffy and Bakanov.

Called Crew-11, Friday’s journey marks SpaceX’s 12th trip with astronauts under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, including a test flight and 11 full-duration missions. 

The crew is slated to dock with the International Space Station around 3 a.m. New York time on Saturday.

The launch comes around two months after a public spat between Musk and US President Donald Trump, during which Musk threatened to decommission the Dragon spacecraft but later walked back the threat.

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