On April 27 at 07:52 UTC, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched the Crew-4 mission towards the International Space Station (ISS).

Onboard Crew Dragon Freedom were three NASA astronauts – Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins, and Bob Hines – and one ESA astronaut, Italian Samantha Cristoforetti. This was Bob and Jessica’s first flight into space and Kjell and Samantha’s 2nd. As we mentioned yesterday, Freedom is the last new-build Crew Dragon. The booster, 1067, was on its 4th flight – a record for crewed flights.

This mission comes right after the end of the Ax-1 mission also to the ISS. Crew-4 was delayed because Ax-1 was taking up its docking port. Once Crew-4 arrives at the ISS, Crew-3, also on a Crew Dragon, will hand the ISS over to them and their Russian crewmates and come back to Earth.

More Information

SpaceX mission page

Launch video