SpaceX Launches Its 9th Crewed Mission As It Heads To Space Station
Four passengers were in the Crew Dragon capsule as SpaceX fired off a violent midnight launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. When the Falcon 9 rocket sped across the Atlantic Ocean, the launch temporarily transformed darkness into day. The time it took the capsule to reach 17,500 mph and defy gravity was nine minutes. The crew will pursue the International Space Station for the next 24 hours, with a docking planned for Friday at 1:17 a.m. EDT. Three minutes prior to liftoff on Monday's last launch attempt, a ground filter that flows ignition fluid into the rocket engines clogged. This spacecraft, Endeavor, has been to space four times and will now make four trips to the space station.Since 2020, SpaceX has put nine humans into orbit, including this one, making it the sixth time it has happened. Two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut, and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates make up Crew 6. They will work on research and experiments for up to six months aboard the space station. The four crew members of the Crew-5 mission, who arrived in October, will be replaced by them. In approximately a week, that team is scheduled to land back on Earth. There are currently 14 individuals in space as a result of the launch. Four are on the Crew 6 spacecraft, three are on the Tiangong space station, and seven people are on the International Space Station.
