SpaceX has successfully delivered a new team of astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in a short 15-hour trip.
The four US, Russian and Japanese astronauts pulled up in their SpaceX capsule after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre. Their arrival brought the current number of people at the station to 11.
While a 15-hour trip is considered speedy by US standards, the Russians hold the record for the fastest trip to the space station – a lightning-fast three hours.
The four astronauts to join the team on the ISS are NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov – each of whom had been originally assigned to other missions.
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“Hello, space station,” Mr Fincke radioed as soon as the capsule belonging to billionaire Elon Musk’s space company docked high above the South Pacific.
Ms Cardman and another astronaut were pulled from a SpaceX flight last year to make room for NASA’s two stuck astronauts, Boeing Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who ended up stranded on the ISS for nine months.
Mr Fincke and Mr Yui had been training for the next Starliner mission but switched to SpaceX as Starliner is grounded by thruster and other problems until 2026.
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Mr Platonov was bumped from the Soyuz launch line-up a couple of years ago because of an undisclosed illness.
The crew will spend at least six months at the orbital lab, swapping places with four colleagues who have been on the ISS since March.
It’s expected SpaceX will bring the previous four back to Earth as early as Wednesday.
