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Three Americans, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, got up with the Japanese Soichi Noguchi at 7 pm 27 min. local time (Monday 2:27 am Lithuanian) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The SpaceX spacecraft lifted nearly a decade of American dependence on Russian Soyuz missiles to bring American astronauts to TKS in 2011 following the end of the reusable space shuttle program.
“It’s a great day for the United States and a great day for Japan,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a press conference after the spacecraft launched.
12 minutes after launch, the piloted capsule successfully separated from the second stage of the launch vehicle, flying at an altitude of 200 km 27 thousand. km per hour.
“It was an awesome trip,” said Hopkins, the mission chief.
SpaceX confirmed that Resilience has reached its target orbit to reach TKS in less than 27 hours on Tuesday at about 4 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (6 p.m. Lithuania). Four new crew members will join two Russian astronauts and one American astronaut already working at the orbital station. They will stay there for six months.
The cabin temperature control was reported to have been briefly interrupted during the flight, but this issue was quickly resolved.
The spacecraft “works fine,” SpaceX president Glynne Shotwell told a news conference. Still, he added, “we will be able to breathe better after about 26 hours when we hand over the crew to NASA.”
SpaceX briefly broadcast live from inside the capsule, showing the astronauts sitting in their seats. Neither the Russians nor the Americans have presented such broadcasts before.
US President-elect Joe Biden hailed the SpaceX launch on Twitter as “a testament to the power of science, [rodantį], which we can achieve with our innovation, ingenuity and determination ”. President Donald Trump also welcomed this “great” event.
Vice President Mike Pence, who came to Florida with his wife, Karen, and directly observed the rocket launch, spoke of “a new era of human space travel in America.”
Early last week, the Crew Dragon capsule became the first new NASA-certified spacecraft in nearly 40 years since the space shuttle launched. It is being launched into space by the reusable SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
Upon returning to Earth, Crew Dragon unloads a parachute and lands in the ocean, like an Apollo-era spacecraft.
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