NASA, Russia, Japan Astronauts Arrive at ISS in Fastest U.S. Crew Flight

SpaceX successfully delivered a new international crew to the International Space Station (ISS), completing the journey in just 15 hours, making it one of the fastest crewed missions launched from the United States to date.

SpaceX successfully delivered a new international crew to the International Space Station (ISS), completing the journey in just 15 hours, making it one of the fastest crewed missions launched from the United States to date. The crew includes four astronauts: Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke from NASA, Kimiya Yui from Japan, and Oleg Platonov from Russia.

The team launched a SpaceX Dragon capsule from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and docked with the ISS while in orbit over the South Pacific.

The new crew will remain on the ISS for at least six months. They will replace the current occupants, who have been in orbit since March and are set to return to Earth this week. Their arrival briefly increases the ISS population to 11 members, which is an uncommon but manageable figure for the space laboratory.

Each astronaut had originally trained for other missions. Cardman was transferred off a SpaceX mission to accommodate delayed Boeing Starliner pilots. Fincke and Yui switched to SpaceX after Starliner was grounded due to technical concerns. Platonov flew after health issues delayed him.

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