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SpaceX international crew blasts off for space station mission

SpaceX international crew blasts off for space station mission

NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission launches to the International Space Station.

SpaceX, the rocket company of Elon Musk, on Thursday launched a four-person crew on a mission to the International Space Station, starting their six-month stay in space.

The SpaceX launch vehicle, which is carrying NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, the United Arab Emirates Sultan Al-Neyadi and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Thursday at 12:34 am ET.

The Crew Dragon, which was carrying the astronauts, got detached from the rocket after it reached orbit, and as per estimates, it will spend about one day manoeuvring through space before it gets linked up with the space station. As per scientists, the capsule should dock at 1:17 a.m. ET Friday.

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The launch of Crew Dragon on Thursday was the second attempt to blast off the mission, called Crew-6, into space. The first launch attempt failed on Monday.

During the live broadcast of the launch, officials stated that ground systems engineers had decided to call off the launch when less than three minutes were left on the clock.

The engineers stated that an issue was detected with a substance called triethylaluminum triethylboron, or TEA-TEB, which is a highly combustible fluid that is used to ignite the engines of Falcon 9 rocket at liftoff.

As per NASA, the problem started as the fluid moved from a holding tank on the ground into a “catch tank”. “After a thorough review of the data and ground system, NASA and SpaceX determined there was a reduced flow back to the ground TEA-TEB catch tank due to a clogged ground filter,” as per an update shared by NASA on its website early on Wednesday.

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“The clogged filter explained the aberration engineers had seen on launch day. SpaceX teams replaced the filter, purged the TEA-TEB line with nitrogen, and verified the lines are clean and ready for launch,” NASA stated.

(With inputs from agencies)

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