NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission launches to the International Space Station from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., March 2, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
SpaceX launched 4 astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on Thursday, together with the primary particular person from the Arab world going up for an prolonged months lengthy keep.
The Falcon rocket bolted from Kennedy Space Center shortly after midnight, illuminating the evening sky because it headed up the East Coast.
Nearly 80 spectators from the United Arab Emirates watched from the launch website as astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi — solely the second Emirati to fly to space — blasted off on his six-month mission.
Half a world away in Dubai and elsewhere throughout the UAE, faculties and places of work broadcast the launch dwell.
Also using the Dragon capsule that is due on the space station on Friday: NASA’s Stephen Bowen, a retired Navy submariner who logged three space shuttle flights, and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, a former analysis scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and space beginner, and Andrei Fedyaev, a space rookie who’s retired from the Russian Air Force.
“Welcome to orbit,” SpaceX Launch Control radioed, noting liftoff occurred 4 years to the day after the capsule’s first orbital check flight. “If you loved your experience, please do not forget to give us 5 stars.”
The first attempt to launch them was called off Monday at the last minute because of a clogged filter in the engine ignition system.
“It may have taken two times, but it was worth the trip,” Mr. Bowen said.
NASA’s space operations mission chief, Kathy Lueders, said Thursday’s launch enhanced a night sky already showcasing a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. The two planets have appeared side by side all week, seeming to grow ever closer.
“We added a bright new star to that night sky tonight,” she told reporters.
The space station newcomers will replace a U.S.-Russian-Japanese crew that has been up there since October. The other station residents are two Russians and an American whose six-month stay was doubled, until September, after their Soyuz capsule sprang a leak. A replacement Soyuz arrived last weekend.
Al-Neyadi, a communications engineer, thanked everyone in Arabic and then English once reaching orbit. “Launch was incredible. Amazing,” he said.
He served as backup for the first Emirati astronaut, Hazzaa al-Mansoori, who rode a Russian rocket to the space station in 2019 for a weeklong visit. The oil-rich federation paid for al-Neyadi’s seat on the SpaceX flight.
The UAE’s minister for public education and advanced technology, Sarah al-Amiri, said the long mission “provides us a new venue for science and scientific discovery for the country.”
“We don’t want to just go to space and then not have much to do there or not have impact,” mentioned the director normal of the UAE’s space heart in Dubai, Salem al-Marri.
The Emirates have already got a spacecraft orbiting Mars, and a mini rover is hitching a experience to the moon on a Japanese lander. Two new UAE astronauts are coaching with NASA’s newest astronaut picks in Houston.
Saudi Prince Sultan bin Salman was the primary Arab in space, launching aboard shuttle Discovery in 1985. He was adopted two years later by Syrian astronaut Muhammed Faris, launched by Russia. Both have been in space for a few week.
Mr. Al-Neyadi will likely be joined this spring by two Saudi astronauts going to the space station on a brief non-public SpaceX flight paid by their authorities.
“It’s going to be actually thrilling, actually attention-grabbing” to have three Arabs in space without delay, he mentioned final week. “Our region is also thirsty to learn more.”
He’s taking over a number of dates to share along with his crewmates, particularly throughout Ramadan, the Muslim holy month which begins this month. As for observing Ramadan in orbit, he mentioned fasting isn’t obligatory because it may make him weak and jeopardise his mission.
Mr. Bowen, the crew’s chief, mentioned the 4 have jelled nicely as a workforce regardless of variations between their international locations. Even with the stress over the struggle in Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia have continued to work collectively on the space station and commerce seats on rides there.
“It’s simply large to have the chance to fly with these guys,” Mr. Bowen mentioned.
