SpaceX delivers four astronauts to International Space Station just 15 hours after launch
By MARCIA DUNN
SpaceX delivered a fresh crew to the International Space Station on Saturday, making the trip in a quick 15 hours.
The four U.S., Russian and Japanese astronauts pulled up in their SpaceX capsule after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. They will spend at least six months at the orbiting lab, swapping places with colleagues up there since March. SpaceX will bring those four back as early as Wednesday.
Moving in are NASA's Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan's Kimiya Yui and Russia's Oleg Platonov — each of whom had been originally assigned to other missions.
Cardman and another astronaut were pulled from a SpaceX flight last year to make room for NASA's two stuck astronauts, Boeing Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose space station stay went from one week to more than nine months. Fincke and Yui had been training for the next Starliner mission. But with Starliner grounded by thruster and other problems until 2026, the two switched to SpaceX.
Platonov was bumped from the Soyuz launch lineup a couple of years ago because of an undisclosed illness.
Their arrival temporarily puts the space station population at 11.
While their taxi flight was speedy by U.S. standards, the Russians hold the record for the fastest trip to the space station — a lightning-fast three hours.
On hand for the first launch attempt on Thursday, NASA's new acting administrator, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, met with Roscosmos director general Dmitry Bakanov, an invited guest. The two discussed future collaboration, then left town after thick clouds forced a last-minute delay.
'What we learn on these missions is what's going to get us to the moon and then from the moon to Mars, which is I think the direction that NASA has to be,' Duffy said in a NASA interview. 'There's critical real estate on the moon. We want to claim that real estate for ourselves and our partners.'
To save money in light of tight budgets, NASA is looking to increase its space station stays from six months to eight months, a move already adopted by Russia's space agency. SpaceX is close to certifying its Dragon capsules for longer flights, which means the newly launched crew could be up there until April.
NASA is also considering smaller crews — three astronauts launching on SpaceX instead of the typical four — to cut costs.
As for Starliner, NASA is leaning toward launching the next one with cargo before flying another crew.
Engineers are still investigating the thruster failures and helium leaks that bedeviled Starliner following liftoff. Time is running out as NASA looks to abandon the aging space station by 2030. An air leak on the Russian side of the station remains unresolved after years of patching.
'I am not in the least worried' about the leak, which is localized, Platonov said earlier this month.
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