Space Station

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday from Kennedy Space Center with a four-man crew heading for a six-month stay on the International Space Station, including the first Arab astronaut to fly on a long-duration space mission.

This detailed mission timeline covers major vehicle and crew activities during the Crew-6 countdown, launch, and rendezvous with the International Space Station.

SpaceX and NASA launched the Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station at 12:34 a.m. EST (0534 GMT) Thursday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off with two NASA astronauts, an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates, and a Russian cosmonaut to begin a six-month expedition in orbit. Docking at the International Space Station occurred at 1:40 a.m. EST (0640 GMT) Friday.

Running three days late because of a last-minute technical glitch, a four-man space station crew, including a Russian cosmonaut and the first Arab to be assigned to a long duration spaceflight, braced for a second launch try early Thursday atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX scrubbed the launch from Florida of a four-man crew heading to the International Space Station early Monday with less than three minutes remaining in the countdown, delaying the start of a six-month mission to examine a problem with a ground system needed to ignite the Falcon 9 rocket’s main engines.

SpaceX is counting down to the deep overnight launch early Monday of a Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule carrying two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and a history-making United Arab Emirates astronaut to the International Space Station.

NASA and SpaceX officials gave the green light Saturday night to continue preparations for launch of the next crew mission to the International Space Station Monday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.