Crew flies to Florida ahead of launch to International Space Station
CBSN
Two NASA astronauts, a Japanese space veteran, and Russia's lone female cosmonaut, flew to the Kennedy Space Center Saturday to prepare for launch Wednesday on a flight to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
Their Falcon 9 rocket was rolled to the top of historic pad 39A before dawn Saturday and rotated vertical just after 12 p.m. Eastern. A few minutes later, Crew 5 commander Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina landed on the spaceport runway after a flight from Houston to begin final preparations.
"First of all, my prayers and thoughts go out to all the people in Florida who are affected by the devastating hurricane," Wakata said. "I hope with this launch, we will brighten up the skies over Florida a little bit for everyone."
