The Falcon 9 rocket launched the Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts from the Crew-7 mission from the Kennedy Space Center at 2:27 PM on August 26th.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 separated from the upper stage approximately 2 minutes and 40 seconds after liftoff. Following this, the first stage activated its engines to return to Earth. About 7.5 minutes after liftoff, the first stage successfully landed at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, near the Kennedy Space Center.
This marked the first launch and landing for this Falcon 9 rocket. Meanwhile, the Crew Dragon spacecraft had more experience, having previously transported crews for SpaceX’s Crew-3 and Crew-5 missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
During the countdown, SpaceX detected a potential leak of nitrogen tetroxide, a propellant used for the Crew Dragon, but it remained within acceptable limits, according to Benji Reed, Senior Director of Human Spaceflight at SpaceX. SpaceX engineers addressed the issue just about 2 minutes before liftoff.
This is the “most international” crew ever sent to space by SpaceX. The four astronauts represent four different space agencies. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli is the commander of the Crew-7 mission, and this is her first spaceflight. Moghbeli is also the second Iranian-American to travel to space, following Anousheh Ansari.
The other three members of the Crew-7 mission include Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen from the European Space Agency (ESA), Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Konstantin Borisov from the Russian space agency Roscosmos. For Borisov, this is his first spaceflight mission.
Crew-7 is the eighth crewed mission SpaceX has conducted for NASA (comprising seven official missions and one test flight), and it marks the 11th crewed mission overall for the company. Prior to this, SpaceX completed three private crewed missions, two of which visited the ISS.
The four astronauts of Crew-7 are expected to arrive at the ISS at 7:50 PM today, after which they will begin conducting scientific research and station maintenance for a period of six months. Approximately five days after Crew-7’s arrival, the Crew-6 crew, which has been working on the ISS since March, will depart for their return journey to Earth.