CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Four astronauts headed to the International Space Station on Sunday where they will oversee the arrival of two new rocket ships during their six-month stint.
SpaceX’s Falcon rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center, carrying NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin.
The astronauts should reach the orbiting laboratory on Tuesday. They will replace a crew from the US, Denmark, Japan and Russia, who have been there since August.
“When are you coming here already?” space station commander Andreas Mogensen asked via X, formerly Twitter, after a three-day delay due to high winds.
On Sunday evening there was almost another postponement. A small crack in the seal of the SpaceX capsule’s hatch sparked a last-minute flurry of reviews, but it was deemed safe for the entire mission.
The new crew’s six-month stay includes the arrival of two rocket ships ordered by NASA. Boeing’s new Starliner capsule with test pilots is expected at the end of April. A month or two later, Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser, a mini-shuttle, should arrive. It is for delivering freight to the station, but not passengers yet.
Epps was originally assigned to fly Boeing’s Starliner, which experienced problems and stalled. NASA eventually switched her to SpaceX.
She is the second Black woman assigned to a long-term mission. She said before the flight that she is especially proud to be a role model for black girls, demonstrating that spaceflight “is an option for them, that it’s not just for other people.”
She was an engineer and worked for Ford Motor Co. and the CIA before becoming an astronaut in 2009. Epps was supposed to fly to the space station on a Russian rocket in 2018, but was replaced for reasons that were never made public.
Also new to space are Dominick, a Navy pilot, and Grebenkin, a former Russian military officer.
Barratt, a doctor on his third mission, is the oldest full-time astronaut to fly in space. He will turn 65 in April.
“As long as we stay healthy, fit and engaged, we can fly,” he said.
Flight controllers monitor a growing cabin leak on the Russian side of the space station. The leak has doubled in size in recent weeks and the area has been closed, NASA program manager Joel Montalbano said. He emphasized that there will be no consequences for the station’s operations or the safety of the crew.
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