SpaceX Crew-13 reaches space station in record-fast US flight
publishers 47articles 55first reported 23 Sep, 12:19 UTCdeveloping since 24 Sep · 29 editions
SpaceX’s Crew-13 mission docked with the International Space Station on Thursday after a flight of seven hours and 55 minutes, the fastest trip to the orbiting laboratory by a US spacecraft, according to NASA officials.
The Dragon capsule Grace launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 11:10 a.m. local time from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Clouds, thunderstorms and gusty winds had threatened the launch, which followed a roughly three-week delay to repair a leak in the capsule’s fuel system.
The four-person crew is led by NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, who became the first Black woman to command a crew to orbit. Watkins, a geologist, previously spent 170 days in space during the Crew-4 mission in 2022. She is joined by first-time space travelers Luke Delaney of NASA, Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency and Sergey Teteryatnikov of Russia’s Roscosmos.
The astronauts are scheduled to spend about six months aboard the station, replacing the four members of Crew-12. Their work will include station maintenance and research into stem cells and Parkinson’s disease treatments, crop production for long-duration missions and medical equipment for monitoring astronaut health.
Crew-13’s mission patch pays tribute to Apollo 13 and the resilience of its crew. Although Thursday’s journey set a US record, the overall record remains with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that reached the station in just over three hours in October 2020.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 4 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 48 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
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- Given to the writer
- 8, 4 with the article's own text
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- 8
- This version written
- 48 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
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