SpaceX successfully delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station on Saturday, completing the journey just 15 hours after liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The arriving crew includes NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. They are scheduled to remain on the orbiting laboratory for at least six months, replacing a group of astronauts who have been aboard the station since March. SpaceX is expected to bring the outgoing crew back to Earth as early as Wednesday.
“Hello, space station!” Fincke radioed shortly after the capsule docked high above the South Pacific.
Each of the new arrivals had initially been assigned to other missions. Cardman was pulled from a SpaceX flight last year to make way for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose planned one week visit aboard Boeing’s Starliner turned into an extended stay of over nine months. The Starliner program has been grounded due to thruster and other technical issues and is not expected to resume flights until 2026.
Fincke and Yui had both been training for the next Starliner mission but were reassigned to SpaceX following the ongoing delays. Platonov had been removed from Russia’s Soyuz launch roster two years ago due to an undisclosed illness but was cleared to fly on this mission.
Their arrival brings the total number of occupants aboard the space station to 11. The welcoming crew had cold drinks and hot meals ready for their new colleagues.
While the 15 hour flight marks a rapid transit by US standards, the record for the fastest trip to the International Space Station still belongs to Russia, whose Soyuz spacecraft once made the journey in just three hours.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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