Three American astronauts and one Russian took off late last night on a Falcon-9 space rocket from the US state of Florida to the International Space Station (ISS), where they will stay for about six months.
The SpaceX rocket took off at 22.53:4.16 p.m. local time (XNUMX:XNUMX a.m. CET) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The rocket was supposed to enter orbit nine minutes after takeoff. The astronauts' liftoff was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was delayed by 24 hours due to unfavorable weather.
American Michael Barratt is the only crew-8 astronaut who has already been to the ISS.
However, it will be the first space travel for two other Americans - Matthew Dominik and Janet Epps, as well as for Russian Alexander Grebionkin.
NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which jointly operate the ISS, have established an astronaut exchange program, with each taking turns transporting a crew member from another country.
That program was maintained despite the war in Ukraine, and the ISS is now one of the rare examples of cooperation between Washington and Moscow.
During the six-month stay, the astronauts will be tasked with performing more than 200 scientific experiments.
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