SpaceX’s Crew-4 astronaut mission for NASA has launched successfully launched atop the Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Freedom by the crew, successfully separated from the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket and is now flying on its own.
Crew-4 on orbit pic.twitter.com/pNlRTTdSYE
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 27, 2022
Meanwhile, the first stage of the reusable rocket successfully landed on a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Astronauts aboard Freedom have settled in for a ride to the International Space Station, where they are scheduled to dock at 8:15 PM EDT on April 27 (5:45 AM IST on April 28).
Harrison Schmitt, the last person to step on the moon with the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, was at the Kennedy Space Center where he witnessed the successful launch.
“The launch of the Falcon 9 and the Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS) was spectacular. Those of us who rode a Saturn V into space are a little jaded about the smaller rockets but still, it really was something, and onboard, was a geologist,” said Schmitt, speaking about the event after the launch on NASA’s official live stream.
The Crew-4 flight carries mission commander Kjell Lindgren, Pilot Bob Hines, and mission specialist Jessica Watkins (who is the geologist that Schmitt spoke of), all of whom are NASA astronauts. The flight also carries mission special Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (ESA).
With this mission, Watkins will become the first African American woman to join a long-duration mission aboard ISS. Only seven other Black astronauts have boarded the space station since its inception over twenty years ago.
The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and the fifth SpaceX flight to carry NASA astronauts, including the Demo-2 test flight to the space station in 2020.
