SPACEX LAUNCHES FOUR-PERSON CREW TO SPACE STATION

A SpaceX rocket carrying a four-person crew lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Thursday, bound for the International Space Station. The Crew-13 mission launched from Space Launch Complex 40 and was scheduled to dock at the ISS later the same day, according to the report. The flight had originally been due to launch the previous month but was delayed after a leak was found on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. Onboard are NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. Kutryk said ahead of the launch that the crew felt like "some of the luckiest people in the world".

Kutryk is set to become the fourth man to become a father while orbiting Earth, with his wife due to give birth next month, the report said. NASA manager Dana Weigel said "a lot of life-changing things can happen over six months" and added that Kutryk would be kept up to date on his family while in orbit. The mission is expected to last around six months, during which the crew will carry out research intended to support future human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. NASA said the programme of experiments is aimed at advancing research and technology for future missions to the Moon and Mars, while also benefiting people on Earth.

NASA said its collaboration with the private sector "opens access to low Earth orbit and the space station to more people, more science, and more commercial opportunities". The Crew-13 launch was one of three SpaceX launches scheduled within a 13-hour window, alongside a separate Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and a Falcon Heavy rocket due to launch from Cape Canaveral shortly before midnight. NASA said the Crew-13 docking with the ISS would be broadcast as a live stream on its website.