Four astronauts from four countries are rocketing toward the International Space Station.

SpaceX is resolving toilet spills in its capsules before it launches another crew for NASA.

SpaceX has launched its third crew in under a year for NASA, this time using a recycled rocket and capsule.

SpaceX is aiming for its third crew launch an hour before sunrise Friday.

A Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Launch Complex 40 with the SiriusXM-7 satellite ready for launch. (Image: SpaceX)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX is preparing for the launch of the SXM-7 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. The Falcon 9 first stage rocket booster supporting this launch previously supported Crew Dragon’s first flight to the International Space Station (Demo-1), launch of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission and four Starlink launches in 2020. Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9′s first stage on the “Just Read the Instructions” droneship, which will be located in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX said half of Falcon 9′s fairing previously supported the ANASIS-II mission in July 2020.

It is due to reach the space station late Monday and remain there until spring. Even the two astronauts on the first SpaceX crew flight stayed behind at Johnson Space Center in Houston. “I didn’t start breathing until about a minute after it took off,” Pence said during a stop at SpaceX Launch Control to congratulate the workers. The first-stage booster is expected to be recycled by SpaceX for the next crew launch. NASA turned to private companies to haul cargo and crew to the space station, after the shuttle fleet retired in 2011.

SpaceX developed the Crew Dragon, which Hurley and Behnken named, “Endeavour,” that launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 launched Saturday, May 30th at 2:22 p.m. following a scrub on Wednesday. Back at Space Station, docking through the front of Space Station where Shuttle used to dock. We flew directly over the International Space Station just two minutes before launch. “And Chris had a note, ’Don’t forget to take it to Earth with Crew Dragon.”Hurley said that flag represents bringing launches back to American soil.

MERRITT ISLAND, Florida A SpaceX rocket and spacecraft carrying two NASA astronauts soared into outer space Saturday marking the first time humans have traveled into Earth's orbit from US soil in nearly a decade. The United States hasn't launched its own astronauts into space since the Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011. SpaceX has been working on the Crew Dragon spacecraft for 15 years. The launch of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft has moved forward despite the Covid-19 pandemic, which has shuttered both private and government operations across the US. Bridenstine, for example, hopes to rely heavily on private-sector partnerships to accomplish the space agency's ambitious goal of landing US astronauts on the moon in 2024.

If it goes off as planned, this will mark the first mission involving astronauts from U.S. soil since 2011. Still, NASA astronaut Bob Behnken has said he and Doug Hurley are “really comfortable” with the risks. So you’re making educated guesses, at best.”It seems there’s just more uncharted territory when it comes to space travel. “The first astronauts really started out as test pilots,” Garfinkle said. But assuming this launch goes well, “It would be great for kids to see a successful, triumphant moment of science,” Fink said.

And yes, the Crew Dragon does have a toilet — just in case. But one astronaut who worked on the Crew Dragon program said he has seen the design and said the accommodations are "perfectly adequate for that task." Officials in both countries have held up their symbiotic relationship on the International Space Station as a beacon of post-Cold War cooperation. NASA officials said Russia and Japan, another ISS partner, both joined discussions for a Crew Dragon safety review last week. Each Crew Dragon spacecraft could also make multiple trips to space, the company has suggested.

NASA announced Friday that SpaceX will launch astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on a mission to the International Space Station on Wednesday, May 27 at 4:32 p.m. "But NASA is continuing to press ahead with Commercial Crew because there is a profound obligation to keep space station operational." NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan returned from their stay on the space station aboard a Russian spacecraft on Friday. The Crew Dragon mission in May, dubbed Demo-2, will be the final test for Crew Dragon before NASA transitions to operational crewed flights to the space station using the spacecraft. SpaceX and Boeing have both announced plans to fly tourists aboard the spacecraft alongside NASA astronauts.

SpaceX will fly four privately-paying space tourists to orbit in its Crew Dragon capsule, the company unveiled on Tuesday. The customers will be brokered through Space Adventures, a company that’s flown private citizens to the International Space Station using Russian spacecraft. The firm said this Crew Dragon mission will allow four individuals to “see planet Earth the way no one has since the Gemini program” of the 1960s. Crew Dragon is a capsule SpaceX has been developing for NASA. The spacecraft is built to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, a capability the U.S. has lacked for nearly a decade.