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Associated Press

A SpaceX rocket carried four astronauts into orbit on Wednesday night, including the 600th person to reach space in 60 years.
The repeatedly delayed flight occurred just two days after SpaceX brought four other astronauts home from the International Space Station. They should have been up there to welcome the newcomers, but Nasa and SpaceX decided to switch the order based on Monday’s ideal recovery weather in the Gulf of Mexico.
“It was a great ride, better than we imagined,” mission commander Raja Chari said after the spacecraft reached orbit.
Germany’s Matthias Maurer claimed the number 600 position, according to Nasa, based on his mission assignment. He and his three Nasa crewmates should arrive at the space station in under 24 hours, by Friday morning Hong Kong time, well over a week late.
Nasa pushes back crewed moon landing to 2025 in race with China
The launch came after Russian space agency Roscosmos said the space station would perform a brief manoeuvre to dodge a fragment of a defunct Chinese satellite. It did not say how large the debris was.
“In order to dodge the ‘space junk’, (mission control) specialists … have calculated how to correct the orbit of the International Space Station,” the agency’s statement said on Wednesday.
One of the astronauts – Nasa isn’t saying which one – was sidelined last week by an undisclosed medical issue. The crew member is fully recovered, according to Nasa. Officials won’t say whether it was an illness or injury, but noted it wasn’t Covid-19.

Bad weather also contributed to their flight delays. It was drizzling when the four astronauts said goodbye to their families, with umbrellas held over them. Forecasters promised the weather would improve and it did.
The list of 600 travellers ranges from those who have barely scratched space – like actor William Shatner last month – to US and Russian astronauts who have spent a year or more in orbit. This year’s surge in space tourists helped push the tally over the 600 mark.
That averages out to 10 people per year since Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering flight in 1961, Maurer noted.
“But I think in a very few years, we will see an exponential rise of that one because now we’re entering the era of commercial space flight,” he said after arriving at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre two weeks ago.
Nasa to deflect asteroid in test of ‘planetary defence’
The crew launch marked SpaceX’s fourth for Nasa in 1 1/2 years and the company’s fifth passenger flight overall – a charter flight for four that skipped the space station. The Dragon capsule’s toilet leaked during their three days in orbit in September, necessitating a quick redesign of the flushing system in the newest capsule, named Endurance by its crew.
A balky parachute during Monday’s descent had SpaceX engineers poring over the data, before giving the go-ahead for Wednesday’s launch. One of the four chutes opened more than a minute late, a problem seen in testing and well within safety limits, SpaceX officials said Tuesday.

Mauer is one of three newbies on the crew. The 51-year-old was a finalist when he first applied to be an astronaut with the European Space Agency. Encouraged, he left his research job at a medical company and joined the space agency as an engineer, and made the astronaut cut in 2015.
“Crew 3” includes two members of Nasa’s latest graduating class of astronauts – Raja Chari, 44, a US Air Force combat jet and test pilot serving as mission commander, and mission specialist Kayla Barron, 34, a US Navy submarine officer and nuclear engineer.
China dodges speeding space junk bullet after Chang’e 5 moon mission
The team’s designated pilot and second-in-command is veteran astronaut Tom Marshburn, 61, a medical doctor and former Nasa flight surgeon who has logged two previous space flights to the space station and four spacewalks.

During their six-month station stay, they will welcome two groups of tourists. A Russian film crew recently spent two weeks at the station, making a movie.
The new crew will be joining three station residents – two Russians and Nasa’s Mark Vande Hei, who celebrated his 55th birthday on Wednesday.
“NASA and @SpaceX are lighting a big candle in the sky for you tonight,” Nasa tweeted before the launch.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Agence France-Presse


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Space

SpaceX crew launch to ISS marks 600th human traveller to space

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer of Germany, is the 600th person to reach space in 60 years. Photo: Reuters

FILE - In this Saturday, April 24, 2021, file photo made available by NASA, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule approaches the International Space Station for docking. SpaceX is scrambling to resolve toilet spills in its capsules before it launches another crew for NASA. Liftoff is currently set for early Sunday, Oct. 31, from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. (NASA via AP, File)

The astronauts of the NASA/Space-X Crew-3 mission depart for Launch Complex 39-A for liftoff of the new Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. From left, Tom Marshburn, pilot; Matthias Maurer, mission specialist; Raja Chari, mission commander, and Kayla Barron, mission specialist. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Crew Dragon capsule, is launched carrying three NASA and one ESA astronauts on a mission to the International Space Station at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. November 10, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

Nasa pushes back crewed moon landing to 2025 in race with China

US astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands next to the American flag on the moon. Apollo 11 was the first manned lunar landing mission in July 1969. File photo: Nasa

FILE PHOTO: The NASA Artemis program moon rocket's Orion crew capsule is shown during a media event at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. November 5, 2021. The Orion spacecraft is expected to fly on Artemis 2, the second scheduled mission of NASA's Artemis program, and the first scheduled crewed mission. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

This handout illustration courtesy of NASA released on October 22, 2020 shows Nasa's new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), in its Block 1 crew vehicle configuration that will send astronauts to the Moon on the Artemis missions. - For the rocket’s first flight on the Artemis I mission, it will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft in an orbit beyond the Moon. SLS, the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, is the first vehicle designed to meet the challenges of sending astronauts to deep space on missions to the Moon and Mars. (Photo by Handout / NASA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NASA/MSFC" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Nasa to deflect asteroid in test of ‘planetary defence’

An artist’s illustration shows the Dart spacecraft from behind as it approaches the Didymos binary system. Image: Nasa/Johns Hopkins APL via AFP

First person in space: 60 years later, legend of Yuri Gagarin lives on in Russia

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in the Vostok 1 command capsule on April 12, 1961. File photo: AFP

The monument of Yuri Gagarin in Moscow, Russia. Photo: AP

A Vostok rocket in Moscow, similar to the one that carried Yuri Gagarin on his flight to space. Photo: AP

Yuri Gagarin runs during a test in Star City, Russia in 1959. File photo: AP

Yuri Gagarin waves to spectators as he leaves the Soviet embassy in London, on July 15, 1961. File photo: AP

Star Trek’s William Shatner blasts into space with Blue Origin

Blue Origin's rocket New Shepard blasts off on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

In this still image taken from a Blue Origin video, New Shepard NS-18 mission crew member "Star Trek" actor, William Shatner (C) speaks with Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos (R) on October 13, 2021, after landing in the West Texas region, 25 miles (40kms) north of Van Horn. (Photo by Jose ROMERO / BLUE ORIGIN / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Blue Origin" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

FILE - This 1988 file photo shows William Shatner dressed as Capt. James T. Kirk at a photo opportunity promoting the Paramount Studios film "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier." The performer who breathed life into Kirk is, at age 90, heading toward the stars under dramatically different circumstances than his fictional counterpart when Shatner boards Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin NS-18. (AP Photo/Bob Galbraith, File)

Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket blasts off on Wednesday. Photo: Blue Origin via YouTube

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United States & Canada


Elon Musk’s SpaceX launches four astronauts to the International Space Station
Space station manoeuvres to dodge fragment of a defunct Chinese satellite



Another group of astronauts launched to the International Space Station on Wednesday night, SpaceX’s third operational crewed flight in less than a year.


SpaceX

SpaceX crew launch to ISS marks 600th human traveller to space

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Elon Musk’s SpaceX launches four astronauts to the International Space Station Space station manoeuvres to dodge fragment of a defunct Chinese satellite

Elon Musk’s SpaceX launches four astronauts to the International Space Station

Space station manoeuvres to dodge fragment of a defunct Chinese satellite