A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL Sunday, January 7, 2024. The rocket is carrying a batch of Starlink satellites. Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK
Syndication: Florida Today
(Cape Canaveral, FL) — Four astronauts on a historic mission are due to blast off today. SpaceX will launch the Ax-3 mission from Kennedy Space Center. The mission will be the first with an all-European commercial crew to go to the International Space Station. The astronauts represent Spain, Italy, Sweden and Turkey. Lift-off is set for 5:11 p.m. Launch conditions are 95 percent Go. Docking with the ISS is expected to take place Friday morning.
Retired NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, Italian co-pilot Walter Villadei, European Space Agency astronaut Marcus Wandt of Sweden, and Turkey’s Alper Gezeravci, were rehearsing launch-day procedures on Tuesday. During their two-week stay at the International Space Station, the astronauts will perform 30 experiments that will test the effects of weightlessness
