1 of 5 | In this time exposure, NASA’s Crew-12 Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Friday. The second streak slightly to the right is the Falcon 9 first stage booster returning to LC-40. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo
Feb. 13 (UPI) — NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts lifted off early Friday morning for their ride to the International Space Station.
The crew left Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 5: 15 a.m. EST aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and a Falcon 9 rocket. They reached orbit at 6: 45 a.m. The crew are NASA astronauts Commander Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
The craft will take about 34 hours to reach the ISS, where it will autonomously dock with the space station’s Harmony module at 3: 15 p.m. Saturday.
The four astronauts, who will raise the ISS population to its usual seven, shared a message of inspiration after reaching orbit.
“We’re reminded that we’re all connected,” Space.com reported that one of the astronauts said. “Take care of one another and keep reaching higher. That’s how human beings soar and how we make each other proud.”
The crew had a unique zero-gravity indicator for the flight, S