NASA Space X Crew 4 takes off from Kennedy Space Centre for ISS; Watch LIVE

The Space X Crew 4 of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Wednesday took off to the International Space Station (ISS). The all-private crew launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Centre following favourable weather conditions. The Space X Crew 4 includes astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, and Jessica Watkins from NASA. It also has astronaut Samatha Cristoforetti from the European Space Agency (ESA).

The astronauts will spend months in the ISS to conduct science and maintenance experiments aboard the space laboratory. They are expected to return to Earth before fall 2022, NASA said in a blog post. This is the Dragon’s fourth science expedition mission to the International Space Station, from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. While Lindgren and Christofiretti have been part of spaceflights before, this is the expedition for Hines and Watkins.

NASA Space X all-private crew 4 takes off to ISS

The crew took off on a Crew Dragon spacecraft launched on SpaceX's Falcon 9. The launcher has already made three trips to the floating space station. "This will be the first flight of the Dragon spacecraft supporting this mission and the fourth flight for Falcon 9’s first stage booster, which previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, and Turksat 5B. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean," Space X said in a statement. Now, watch the live broadcast of the Crew 4 launching into space.

The mission is being commanded by Lindgren who came on board the Crew 4 mission in February 2021. Lindgren is responsible for all phases of the flight from launch to return. Hines is assigned as the pilot of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The second in command, he joined the mission alongside Lindgren. Christofiretti was welcomed to join the crew in March 2021 and is the mission specialist. She will monitor the spacecraft during dynamic launches and re-entry. During their time at the orbiting laboratory, the Crew-4 astronauts will conduct over 200 science experiments in areas such as materials science, health technologies, and plant science to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and benefit life on Earth, Space X said.

(Image: @SpaceX/Twitter)