The Falcon 9 rocket of NASA’s fifth manned Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX ships took off from platform 39A of Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, this Wednesday. 12:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

NASA, “We’re on our way to space!” excitement Seeing how the rocket soars with the attached Dragon Endurance ship.

The US space agency pointed out that this mission will allow many scientific discoveries to be made over the course of six months.

12 minutes after takeoff, SpaceX, which made the Dragon spacecraft and booster rocket, confirmed that the spacecraft had “departed from the second stage of Falcon 9,” a distinction that can be seen in the live broadcast.

“The main engine segment and stage separation have been approved. The combustion of the second stage engine continues,” the private agency explained.

The first stage of Falcon 9 was also seen returning shortly after takeoff and landing autonomously on the “Just Read the Instructions” unmanned platform in the Atlantic.

As the dragon began flying on its own 16 minutes after takeoff, claps of applause were heard from the engineers at the flight control center at Cape Canaveral.

Meanwhile, images from inside the capsule were shown with the four astronauts in the cabin.

As one of them began to play with a stuffed animal, his friends stretched out his arms and legs as a sign that he had passed the rigorous take-off test.

At that time they were traveling at 26,984 km/h and 203 km altitude from Earth.

The takeoff took place in Florida on a clear day with little clouds and sunlight.

Crew-5

Crew-5 carries two NASA astronauts, mission commander Nicole Aunapu Mann and pilot Josh Cassada, as well as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, who will serve as mission specialists from Roscosmos.

Commander Mann is the first Native American woman to travel into space and belongs to the Wailacki-Round Valley Indian Tribe of Northern California.

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Crew-5 is the eighth manned mission conducted by SpaceX since the start of its operations, and also the first to be commanded by a woman named Mann, who made the first space travel.

Traveling in the Dragon Endurance capsule, a ship previously used on the Crew-3 mission, is Kikina, the first cosmonaut of the Russian space agency Roscosmos to board a SpaceX ship.

During their time in the orbital lab, SpaceX said the Crew-5 team will conduct more than 200 scientific experiments and technology tests in areas such as heart disease research and health, including lunar fuel systems.