Four astronauts from four countries blasted off toward the International Space Station on Saturday and are scheduled to arrive at the orbiting laboratory in a SpaceX capsule Sunday, replacing four astronauts who have lived there since March.
"To explore space, we have to do it together," said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, minutes before takeoff. "Space is truly global, and international cooperation is key." The mission is led by Yasmine Moqbeli, a US Navy pilot, who is accompanied on the 6-month mission by the Danish Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency, the Japanese Satoshi Furukawa, and the Russian Konstantin Borisov.
The mission commander, born in Germany and raised in Long Island, New York, joined the Marines and flew attack helicopters in Afghanistan. Moqbeli, who is traveling to space for the first time, hopes to show Iranian girls that they are also capable of achieving high goals. "Believing in yourself is a really powerful thing," she said before the trip.
This is the first American launch in which different countries occupy seats in the spacecraft, as NASA has always included two or three seats of its own in SpaceX charter flights.
0 Comments