A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, sending an international crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Dragon spacecraft as part of NASA’s Crew-11 mission.
The crew — NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov — lifted off at 11:43 a.m. local time (1543 GMT) following a one-day delay due to bad weather. They are expected to dock with the ISS at around 3 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Saturday after a 15-hour flight.
The mission, originally planned for a six-month rotation, may be extended to eight months to better synchronise schedules between NASA and Roscosmos, NASA said. The decision will depend on the spacecraft’s performance while docked to the station.
This marks the eleventh crew rotation flight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions, but continued cooperation aboard the ISS. Despite Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and its pivot away from U.S.-led lunar missions, both nations remain partners in space station operations.
The Crew-11 astronauts will join seven others currently on the ISS, briefly increasing the station’s population to 11. Once the new crew settles in, NASA’s Crew-10 astronauts will return to Earth following a handover period.
While in orbit, the Crew-11 team will carry out a wide range of scientific experiments, including research on plant biology, bacterial resistance, stem cell growth, and vision protection strategies. The mission is also expected to simulate conditions relevant to future Moon and Mars expeditions.
The launch follows a rare face-to-face meeting in Florida between acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy and Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov — their first since 2018. According to Roscosmos, discussions included continued ISS cooperation and lunar exploration, though no new joint projects were announced.
Russia is currently aligned with China on lunar missions, having withdrawn from NASA’s Artemis programme following its isolation from Western space initiatives due to the Ukraine conflict.
Despite diverging goals on future Moon projects, space station collaboration remains one of the last functioning areas of U.S.-Russia cooperation, with Crew-11 highlighting the ongoing partnership — at least in orbit.
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Thousands gathered in Nagasaki on Saturday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the city’s atomic bombing, with Mayor Shiro Suzuki warning that ongoing global conflicts risk bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war.
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The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will send an upgraded ‘version 3.0’ free-trade agreement to their heads of government for approval in October, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday after regional talks in Kuala Lumpur.
A resumption of Iraq’s Kurdish oil exports is not expected in the near term, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, despite an announcement by Iraq’s federal government a day earlier stating that shipments would resume immediately.
Chinese automaker Chery has denied an industry-ministry audit that disqualified more than $53 million in state incentives for thousands of its electric and hybrid vehicles, insisting it followed official guidance and committed no fraud.
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The acting chief of the U.S. space agency NASA is expected to unveil a directive this week to build a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030, according to U.S. media reports, as the United States seeks to strengthen its space presence amid growing competition from China and Russia.
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