Gerry Palmers Science 10.05.2022 22:Oct PM EDT

Historic SpaceX Crew-5 Mission Lifts Off for ISS with Exemplary, Diverse Astronauts

SpaceX's groundbreaking Crew-5 mission lifted off from Launch Pad 3A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at noon EDT (1600 GMT), beginning a 29-hour trip to the International Space Station (ISS).

A Dragon capsule carrying four Crew-5 astronauts was on top of a Falcon 9 rocket when it launched from the historic Launch Pad 39A on Wednesday, Space.com reported.

Crew-5 from 'Very Unique, Different Backgrounds'

The four astronauts included NASA's Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina. Mann was the first Native American woman in space, and Kikina is the first Russian cosmonaut to be launched into space on a private American spacecraft.

Mann said he was "very proud to represent Native Americans and my heritage," Mann said in an Oct. 1 press conference. Mann described the Crew 5 members as "coming from very unique, different backgrounds, different educations and job specialties."

As the Falcon rocket soared, the nine Merlin engines that boosted the rocket's first stage roared to life, and they launched the 230-foot-tall (70 meters) rocket off the pad.

Two minutes and 40 seconds into the flight, the engines were shut off, and the upper stage capsule detached from the first-stage booster. Twelve minutes after launch, the Crew-5 capsule Endurance separated from the upper stage as planned, beginning its long solo chase of the ISS.

As this happened, Wakata told mission control that the astronauts enjoyed a "smooth ride" and that he saw "three happy faces here."

Crew-5 Part of 'Golden Era' of Commercial Space Exploration

According to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, the Crew-5 mission is "proof we are living through a golden era of commercial space exploration. The mission, he said in a NASA post, is part of "a new era powered by the spirit of partnership, fueled by scientific ingenuity, and inspired by the quest for new discoveries." Crew-5 is set to conduct in the ISS more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations, including studies on printing human organs in space and a better understanding of heart disease.

This is the first spaceflight for Mann, Cassada, and Kikina, and the fifth for Wakata. This is the sixth SpaceX mission with NASA astronauts - including the Demo-2 test flight in 2020 to the space station - as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program.

During Dragon's flight, SpaceX will oversee several automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California, and NASA teams will look after space station operations throughout the flight from the Mission Control Center at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Dragon will dock to the space-facing port of the station's Harmony module at around 4:57 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6. NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website will provide live coverage of docking and hatch opening. NASA also will cover the ceremony to welcome the crew aboard the orbital outpost at about 8:15 p.m. Thursday.

Mann, Cassada, Wakata, and Kikina will join the current ISS Expedition 68 crew of NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, Frank Rubio, and Jessica Watkins, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin. For a few days, the number of crew aboard the space station will reach 11 people until Crew-4 astronauts Hines Lindgren, Watkins, and Cristoforetti head back to Earth a few days later.