Four astronauts are on their way to the International Space Station. NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission lifted off from Florida at 11:10 a.m. local time on October 1. A Falcon 9 rocket carried their Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The crew includes two NASA astronauts, one Canadian astronaut, and one Russian cosmonaut. The flight to the station was planned to take about 7 hours and 50 minutes.
NASA said this would be the fastest trip from launch to docking by an American spacecraft in the station's history. Dragon docks by itself, without a pilot steering it. After arriving, the four newcomers join the Expedition 75 crew already on board. Following a short handover, the Crew-12 astronauts will return to Earth. NASA says the mission also builds experience for future trips to the Moon.