Four astronauts of different nationalities headed to the International Space Station on Saturday.
They are expected to reach the orbital lab in their SpaceX capsule on Sunday, replacing four other astronauts who have lived there since March.
A NASA astronaut was joined at the pre-dawn liftoff site at the Kennedy Space Center by his teammates from Denmark, Japan and Russia.
It was the first U.S. launch where every spacecraft seat was occupied by someone from a different country. Until now, NASA had always included two or three of its own astronauts on SpaceX flights.
“We are a united team with a common mission,” NASA’s Jasmin Moghbeli said by radio from orbit.
The US Navy pilot, serving as a commanding officer, said her crew composition demonstrates “what we can do when we work together in harmony.”
Ms Moghbeli is accompanied by Andreas Mogensen from the European Space Agency, Satoshi Furukawa from Japan and Konstantin Borisov from Russia.
“To explore space, we have to do it together,” declared the Director General of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, a few minutes before takeoff. “Space is truly global, and international cooperation is essential,” he said.
The journey of these astronauts to space is quite different.
Ms. Moghbeli’s parents fled Iran during the 1979 revolution. Born in Germany and raised on Long Island in New York, she joined the US Navy and flew attack helicopters in Afghanistan. She hopes to show Iranian girls that they too can aim high.
Mr. Mogensen worked on oil rigs off the West African coast after earning an engineering degree. He told people intrigued by his choice of job that “in the future, we will need drillers in space,” like the character Bruce Willis in the movie. Armageddon. He is convinced that the platform experience led to his selection as Denmark’s first astronaut.
For his part, Mr. Furukawa spent a decade as a surgeon before becoming an astronaut. Like Mogensen, this Japanese has already visited the space station.
As for Mr Borisov, a space rookie, he turned to engineering after studying business. He runs a freediving school in Moscow and judges the sport, in which divers avoid oxygen tanks and hold their breath underwater.
Another NASA astronaut will launch from Kazakhstan in mid-September under an agreement with two Russians.
SpaceX has now launched eight crews for NASA.
Boeing was hired at the same time nearly a decade ago, but has yet to fly astronauts. His crew capsule is grounded until 2024 due to various issues.
