NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 reaches orbit, heads for record-fast ISS docking

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission, launched Thursday from the US state of Florida and safely reached orbit to begin a journey to the International Space Station with four astronauts aboard.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos astronaut Sergey Teteryatnikov lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 11.10 am local time (1810GMT), said NASA.

The rocket passed through maximum dynamic pressure before its first and second stages separated. The first stage then completed a boostback maneuver and landed at SpaceX’s Landing Zone 40 at Cape Canaveral.

The Dragon spacecraft later separated from the Falcon 9’s second stage, reached orbit and opened its nosecone, it said.

Crew-13 is expected to spend just under eight hours in orbit before docking with the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.

NASA said the approximately 7-hour, 50-minute launch-to-docking journey would be the fastest in the history of the International Space Station.

At the time of launch, the station was traveling at about 17,500 mph (28,200 kph) roughly 263 miles (423 kilometers) above Earth, northwest of Havana, Cuba.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and other officials are expected to hold a post-launch news conference later Thursday.