SpaceX has added another feather to its hat. The space agency has successfully launched four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Crew-2 astronauts inside the Crew Dragon spacecraft took off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The team has two NASA astronauts — Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur along with Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet. The spacecraft will dock to the ISS at 5:10 a.m. on Saturday, April 24. The docking will stream live on NASA TV.

Mission’s main focus

The Crew-2 mission is SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule’s second operational flight, and the third astronaut flight overall. The first manned flight happened in May 2020 carrying NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in the Demo-2 mission. The first Crew-1 mission took place in November 2020, ferrying NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker along with JAXA’s Soichi Noguchi.

That crew will be coming back to Earth in another Crew Dragon capsule next week. The Crew-2 astronauts will stay aboard the ISS for the next six months as a part of the ISS’ Expedition 65.

SpaceX will also build NASA moon lander

SpaceX also recently won NASA’s $2.9 billion contract to build a moon lander that will take astronauts to the moon by 2024. NASA chose SpaceX over Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Bynetics Inc. The contract was for the first commercial human lander of NASA’s Artemis program.

SpaceX’s Starship includes two airlocks for moonwalks and is designed for reusable launch. Besides, the landing system is ideal for Moon travel and other extraterrestrial places. SpaceX will have to make a successful test flight before the actual manned launch.

NASA’s announcement to choose SpaceX for the Moon lander comes as a setback for Jeff Bezos, who has shifted his focus on his space company Blue Origin, after stepping down as Amazon CEO.