A Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, delivering a Crew Dragon spacecraft with four crew members into orbit. This is reported by BBC, according to UNN.
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On board are NASA astronauts Ann McClain and Nicole Ayers, a representative of the Japanese space agency Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.
In parallel, the mission will perform another important task — returning to Earth two American astronauts who, due to technical difficulties, remained on the ISS much longer than planned. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were supposed to leave the station back in August last year, but due to engine problems with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, their journey home was delayed by nine months.
Nick Hague (NASA) and Alexander Gorbunov (Roscosmos) will also travel with them in the Dragon descent module. The transfer of duties between the crews will begin after the Crew Dragon docks with the ISS, which is expected on the night of Saturday to Sunday. According to NASA's calculations, the astronauts will return to Earth no earlier than March 19.