Mission Alpha: successful takeoff for Thomas Pesquet and his teammates
Audio 14:39
The SpaceX rocket with four astronauts on board, including Thomas Pesquet, took off from Cape Canaveral to join the International Space Station this Friday, April 23, 2021. AP
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17 mins
The SpaceX rocket took off as planned this Friday, April 23 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with four astronauts on board, including Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, towards the International Space Station (ISS).
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The take-off of the Falcon 9 rocket, greeted by applause in SpaceX's control room, took place at 5:49 am (9:49 am UT).
This is the third manned flight for SpaceX, a private company founded by Elon Musk which now transports NASA astronauts after nine years of American dependence on Russian Soyuz rockets.
Takeoff is the riskiest phase of a space flight, with the return to earth, explains our special envoy to Cape Canaveral,
Simon Rozé
.
"It must be remembered that the Falcon 9 rocket is 70 meters long, it is almost 600 tonnes of fuel, 600 tonnes of explosive which we set on fire with four people crazy enough to land at the top," he said. recalled.
In addition to Thomas Pesquet for the European Space Agency (ESA),
the three other crew members
of the Crew-2 mission are American astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur and Japanese Akihiko Hoshide.
"
And here are four astronauts from three different countries of (this mission) Crew-2 now en route to the one and only International Space Station,
" said a commentator from SpaceX.
Internet users were able to see the four astronauts testify to their enthusiasm by applauding, as they entered orbit, thanks to a camera on board their Dragon spacecraft.
Docking to the ISS should take place in less than 24 hours.
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