LIFTOFF

WATCH: SpaceX Launches Crew to ISS After Aborted Flight

A Russian cosmonaut and UAE astronaut joined two NASA crewmates for the mission.

A SpaceX rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral early Thursday carrying four crew members to the International Space Station. The Falcon 9 rocket built by Elon Musk’s rocket company launched after a flight scheduled to take place 72 hours earlier was canceled at the last minute on Monday after a technical hitch. On top of the rocket, a Crew Dragon capsule named Endeavor contained two NASA astronauts along with a Russian cosmonaut and Sultan Alneyadi—the first person from the United Arab Emirates to fly to space from U.S. soil as part of a long-duration space station team. The crew will spend six months aboard the ISS conducting scientific research. The international space project has recently come under strain from political tensions sparked by the war in Ukraine and an alarming coolant leak from a Russian spacecraft attached to the station.