Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Despite concerns about thunderstorms and gusty winds, SpaceX launched four people on NASA's Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station. The Falcon 9 rocket leaped off the launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and soared northeast, over the Atlantic Ocean. It will take the capsule about eight hours to catch up with and dock to the space station. The four crew members will spend up to six months living and working aboard the outpost before returning home. The crew includes two NASA astronauts. Commander Jessica Watkins, a geologist, is making her second trip to space, previously launching to the space station on the Crew-4 mission in 2022, and totaling 170 days in space (She was the first Black woman to serve on the space station, and has the most time in space of any Black woman). Pilot Luke Delaney, a naval aviator, is making his first trip to space. He's from DeBary, Fla. , around 50 miles from the Space Coast. "I did grow up pretty close to here," he said ahead of his flight. "I got to watch Space Shuttle launches, and now I'm going to get to see it from a little bit different perspective. "
Deltona High School — where Delaney attended — declared Thursday "Luke Delaney Day" as students gathered outside to watch him take flight. Mission specialists from Canada and Russia are joining the crew. Canadian Space Agency's Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos' Sergey Teteryatnikov are both making their first trip to space. Their capsule is named Grace and is the fifth and final Dragon spacecraft built by SpaceX. It's only made one trip to the space station, ferrying four private astronauts on the Axiom Ax-4 mission.