Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

Watch the key moments of SpaceX’s Crew-3 launch to space station

Trevor Mogg
By

SpaceX’s Crew-3 astronauts are on their way to the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA’s Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, plus Matthias Maurer from the European Space Agency, launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on time at 9:03 p.m. ET (6:03 p.m. PT) on Wednesday, November 10.

Recommended Videos

SpaceX tweeted the key moments from the launch as they happened, beginning with the spectacular liftoff that lit up the Florida skies:

Related

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/P2H0r0VaES

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 11, 2021

The Falcon 9 rocket roaring toward orbit, carrying the four astronauts aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft:

SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts heading to space.
NASA

Next up, the main engine cutoff:

Main engine cutoff and stage separation confirmed. Second stage engine burn underway pic.twitter.com/qFtOb4uIUM

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 11, 2021

Here we see the Crew Dragon capsule separating from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage:

Dragon has separated from Falcon 9’s second stage and is on its way to the @space_station! Autonomous docking tomorrow at ~7:10 p.m. EST pic.twitter.com/BSZNHTkQZ5

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 11, 2021

The Crew-3 astronauts in orbit and on their way to the ISS:

Crew-3 astronauts in orbit.
SpaceX

Footage from inside the Crew Dragon:

Crew-3 on orbit pic.twitter.com/VFP1fXwlfZ

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 11, 2021

The Crew-3 launch had been delayed several times due to poor weather conditions and a medical issue involving one of the astronauts. But everything came together for the launch on Wednesday night.

The mission marks the fourth astronaut launch for SpaceX following its first crewed mission in 2020. It also takes the number of people to have visited space to more than 600, with ESA’s Matthias Maurer officially the 600th person in space.

NASA will livestream coverage of the Crew Dragon docking with the ISS, a procedure that’s scheduled to take place at around 7:10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT) on Thursday, November 11.

This will be followed a short while later by the hatch opening and the welcoming ceremony aboard the station.

The four astronauts will stay aboard the ISS for about six months. This is the kind of life they’ll be living 250 miles above Earth.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
SpaceX’s Starship launch sparked a fire in a Texas state park
SpaceX's Starship launching from Boca Chica, Texas, in April 2023.

SpaceX successfully launched the most powerful rocket ever developed on Thursday, April 20, but just a few minutes after clearing the pad in Boca Chica, Texas, the 120-meter-tall Starship vehicle tumbled out of control and exploded in midair.

Despite the fiery end, the commercial spaceflight company led by Elon Musk described the maiden test mission as a success, giving the team plenty of data to work with so that it can improve the rocket’s design before attempting a complete flight that would see the upper stage of the vehicle reach orbit for the first time.

Read more
Will SpaceX’s failed Starship flight impact NASA’s moon plan?
Artist concept of the SpaceX Starship on the surface of the Moon.

SpaceX’s Starship vehicle suffered what the spaceflight company called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” on Thursday. In other words, it blew up.

The good news is that the uncrewed rocket cleared the pad and flew for around four minutes before meeting its fiery end. It means the SpaceX team will have plenty of valuable data on the rocket's flight performance, enabling it to refine the rocket’s systems to give it an improved chance of completing the second test flight and sending the Starship to orbit.

Read more
SpaceX Starship rocket launches in first test flight, but explodes in midair
spacex starship launch explosion

SpaceX has launched its integrated Starship for the first time, with the spacecraft and rocket leaving the launchpad on a test flight. However, not everything went smoothly during the test, as the rocket exploded before the separation of the Starship spacecraft from the Super Heavy rocket booster.

The launch from SpaceX's Starbase facility at Boca Chica in Texas saw the Starship leave the launch pad at 9:33 a.m. ET, consisting of the integrated Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy Booster, which form the world's most powerful rocket. The combined Starship will be used for future missions to the moon and beyond, launched from a launch-and-catch tower standing at an impressive height of nearly 500 feet tall.

Read more