SpaceX Launches Crew of 4 Including Emirati Astronaut to Int’l Space Station

SpaceX has launched four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA, including the first person from the Arab world to go up for an extended monthslong stay. The Falcon rocket took off from Kennedy Space Center shortly after midnight, illuminating the night sky as it headed up the East Coast of the United States. Nearly 80 spectators from the United Arab Emirates watched from the launch site as astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi, only the second Emirati to fly to space, blasted off on his six-month mission. The Dragon capsule that the astronauts were riding is due at the space station on Friday.

Also on the Dragon capsule are NASA’s Stephen Bowen, a retired Navy submariner who logged three space shuttle flights, Warren “Woody” Hoburg, a former research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and space newbie, and Andrei Fedyaev, a space rookie who’s retired from the Russian Air Force. The first attempt to launch them was called off Monday at the last minute because of a clogged filter in the engine ignition system. Thursday’s launch enhanced a night sky already showcasing a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, according to NASA’s space operations mission chief, Kathy Lueders.

The space station newcomers will replace a US-Russian-Japanese crew that has been up there since October. Al-Neyadi, a communications engineer, thanked everyone in Arabic and then in English once reaching orbit. “Launch was incredible. Amazing,” he said. He served as a backup for the first Emirati astronaut, Hazzaa al-Mansoori, who rode a Russian rocket to the space station in 2019 for a weeklong visit. The oil-rich federation paid for al-Neyadi’s seat on the SpaceX flight.