LOS ANGELES, March 14 (Xinhua) -- NASA and SpaceX launched a new crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, a critical step to bring home NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore who have been stranded in space since last June.
The spacecraft took off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 p.m. Friday Eastern Time, according to NASA live broadcast.
About two and half minutes later, SpaceX confirmed Falcon 9 first stage separation. The first stage booster has landed at Landing Zone 1 near the launch pad.
The spacecraft is en route to ISS. It will take about 28.5 hours for the spacecraft to autonomously dock to the space station, which is scheduled at 11:30 p.m. Saturday Eastern Time, according to NASA.
The new mission, codenamed Crew-10, carries NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to ISS.
Following the arrival of Crew-10 to the orbital laboratory, NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission, consisting of NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, will return to Earth.
Williams and Wilmore have been stuck in space since last June due to technical problems of Boeing's Starliner which took them to ISS. ■