Cape Canaveral (US): SpaceX successfully delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) just 15 hours after launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Saturday. The crew, consisting of US astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and Russia’s Oleg Platonov, arrived aboard a SpaceX capsule and will spend at least six months aboard the orbiting laboratory. They are replacing colleagues who have been on the station since March, and SpaceX plans to bring those astronauts back as early as Wednesday.
Several of the new arrivals had been reassigned from other missions. Cardman and another astronaut were removed from a SpaceX flight last year to accommodate NASA’s two astronauts who were delayed onboard the station due to Boeing Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams’ extended stay, initially planned for one week but extended to more than nine months. Fincke and Yui had been training for an upcoming Starliner mission, but with Starliner grounded by thruster and other technical issues until 2026, they switched to SpaceX flights. Platonov had been sidelined from the Soyuz launch roster a few years ago due to an undisclosed illness.
Crew-11 astronauts before launch at Kennedy Space Center on Friday: Oleg Platonov, Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, and Kimiya Yui.
Their arrival temporarily boosts the ISS population to 11. The crew on board welcomed them with cold drinks and hot food. While this 15-hour trip is rapid by US standards, the Russians hold the record for the fastest journey to the ISS, a remarkable three-hour flight.
With PTI inputs