SpaceX launches four-astronaut team on NASA space mission

The crew first ever to be propelled towards orbit by a rocket booster recycled from a previous spaceflight.

NASA and Elon Musk’s commercial rocket company SpaceX have launched a new four-astronaut team on a flight to the International Space Station (ISS), the first crew ever propelled towards orbit by a rocket booster recycled from a previous spaceflight. The three men and one woman crew from the United States, Japan and France should reach the ISS early on Saturday morning after a 23-hour ride in the same Dragon capsule used by SpaceX’s debut crew last May. It was the first time SpaceX reused a capsule and rocket to launch astronauts for NASA after years of proving the capability on station supply runs.