Name: NASA, SpaceX Launch Crew-8 Mission to International Space Station
Uploaded: 2024-03-04T17:29:40.000Z
Description: CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida—A SpaceX rocket safely lifted off from Florida on Sunday night carrying a crew of three U.S. astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut on their way to the International Space Station (ISS) to begin a six-month science mission in Earth orbit.

Bringing you the latest videos, livestreams, and premieres.


NTD Videos

NTD Plus

Label

Live

NTD+ Live

NASA Astronaut Chris Williams Holds Postflight News Conference

Senate Subcommittee Holds Hearing on How Corporations Use AI Surveillance to Set and Charge Consumers Higher Prices

View of Damage in Spokane After Devastating Wildfires

Justice Department Announces Healthcare Fraud Takedown, Anti-Fraud Initiative

LIVE 8/4 AT 10 AM: Trump Hosts the Nittany Lions of Penn State, 2026 NCAA Wrestling National Champions

Senate Finance Committee Holds Hearing on Biotechnology and the Future of Healthcare

LIVE NOW: Public Meeting Examines Drug Repurposing for New Treatment Options

Senate Budget Committee Holds Hearing on Medicaid

Senate Judiciary Committee to Consider Todd Blanche for Attorney General

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 Astronauts Hold Prelaunch News Conference

Tom Gantert is a reporter for The Epoch Times.

Tom Gantert

Melina Wisecup is NTD's congressional correspondent based in Washington, covering Capitol Hill and campaign politics.

Melina Wisecup

News

US News

Politics

Executive Branch

Trump Uses Recent Speeches to Warn Americans of Resurging Communism

NTD Movies

NTD+ Movies

The Unrestricted War

Juliet Song is an international correspondent exclusively covering China news for NTD. She primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus," covering U.S.-China relations, the Chinese regime's human rights abuses, and domestic unrest inside China.

Juliet Song

Shows

Fast, compelling, first-hand news from China. China in Focus airs Monday–Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET.

China in Focus

2.8 Million People in China Evacuated Amid Typhoon Bavi

NTD Newsroom comprises teams of reporters, editors, and producers assigned to cover breaking news and other stories.


NTD Newsroom

Breaking news and in-depth analysis from the United States and beyond. We bring you the latest updates, exclusive insights, and sharp discussions on the most pressing issues. NTD Newsroom airs Monday–Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET.

US Announces Visa Restrictions Targeting Cybercriminals

Reuters is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages.

Reuters

Cyber Defense Agency Warns Hackers Are Increasingly Targeting Water Systems

Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.


Joseph Lord

Congress

House Passes Legislation to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent

Troy Myers is a regional reporter based in St. Augustine, Florida. His background includes breaking, criminal justice, and investigative writing for local news, producing on a national morning newscast in Washington, D.C., and working with an award-winning, weekly investigative news program. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his dog at the beach.

Troy Myers

Jason Perry is an Army veteran and NTD's national security correspondent. Jason primarily covers border security, national defense, foreign wars, and veterans' issues.

Jason Perry

Courts

Appeals Court Upholds Block on Trump Order to Tighten Mail-In Voting, Citizenship Verification

News you can trust from the U.S. and around the world. Critical information and insight. We cover the stories that others don’t. NTD News Today airs Monday–Friday at 11 a.m. ET.

NTD News Today

Florida Ticket Wins $800 Million Mega Millions Jackpot

The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. 

The Associated Press

Sen. Lindsey Graham Likely Died After Aorta Tear, Medical Examiner Says

Trump Makes an Announcement on Freedom Hauler in the White House

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida—A SpaceX rocket safely lifted off from Florida on Sunday night carrying a crew of three U.S. astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut on their way to the International Space Station (ISS) to begin a six-month science mission in Earth orbit.

The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped with an autonomously operated Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Endeavor was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, along Florida's Atlantic coast, at 10:53 p.m. EST (0353 GMT Monday).

A live NASA-SpaceX webcast showed the 25-story-tall rocketship ascending from the launch tower as its nine Merlin engines roared to life in billowing clouds of vapor and a reddish fireball that lit up the night sky. The rocket consumes 700,000 gallons of fuel per second during launch, according to SpaceX.

The Falcon's upper stage delivered Endeavor to its initial orbit nine minutes after liftoff, with live video from the cabin showing the four crew members strapped in side by side garbed in their helmeted white-and-black flight suits.

"What an incredible ride to orbit," astronaut Matthew Dominick, 42, the flight commander and one of three spaceflight rookies aboard the capsule, radioed to control outside of Los Angeles. "A big thank-you to SpaceX."

"Really honored to fly this new-generation spaceship with this new-generation crew," NASA veteran Dr. Michael Barratt, 64, chimed in from his seat beside Dominick.

The four crew members were scheduled to reach the space station early on Tuesday after a 16-hour flight, docking with the orbital laboratory some 250 miles (420 km) above Earth.

Designated Crew 8, the mission marks the eighth long-duration ISS team that NASA has flown aboard a SpaceX launch vehicle since the private rocket venture founded in 2002 by billionaire Elon Musk and headquartered near Los Angeles began sending U.S. astronauts to orbit in May 2020.

The latest ISS crew was led by Mr. Dominick, a U.S. Navy test pilot making his first trip to orbit, and Dr. Barratt, a physician who has logged two previous flights to the space station and two spacewalks. Dr. Barratt is serving as a mission pilot.

Rounding out the team are fellow NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps, 53, an aerospace engineer and former technical intelligence officer for the CIA, and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, 41, a former military aircraft engineer. Both he and Ms. Epps, like Mr. Dominick, are spaceflight rookies.

Mr. Grebenkin is the latest cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft under a ride-sharing deal signed in 2022 by NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, despite heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Crew 8 will be welcomed aboard the space station by seven current ISS occupants—three Russians and the four astronauts of Crew 7, two from NASA, one from Japan, and one from Denmark. The Crew 7 team is expected to depart the space station for a flight back to Earth about a week after Crew 8's arrival.

Crew 8 is expected to remain aboard the space station until the end of August, collectively performing about 250 experiments in the microgravity environment of the orbital platform.

The ISS, about the length of a football field and the largest human-made object in space, has been continuously operated by a U.S.–Russian-led consortium that includes Canada, Japan, and 11 European countries.

The first hardware for the outpost was launched 25 years ago. It was conceived in part as a multinational venture designed to improve relations between Washington and Moscow following the Soviet Union's collapse and the end of Cold War rivalries that gave rise to the original U.S.–Soviet space race in the 1950s and 1960s.

NASA has said it is committed to keeping the space station in operation for at least six more years.

Latest

Science &amp; Tech

NASA

SPACEX

Videos

04_Top Stories

Events

NASA, SpaceX Launch Crew-8 Mission to International Space Station

Trump Holds ‘Get Out the Vote’ Rally in Richmond, Virginia

Moms for America 20th Anniversary Celebration—Day 3 Afternoon Program Featuring Sebastian Gorka

Trump Rallies in Greensboro, North Carolina

Moms for America 20th Anniversary Celebration—Day 3 Morning Program Featuring Michael Flynn, Sam Sorbo, Dr. Simone Gold, and More

News with integrity, from the United States and around the world. Focused reports and analyses that shed light on major issues the world deserves to know. NTD Evening News airs daily at 6 p.m. ET.

NTD Evening News

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (March 1)

Moms for America 20th Anniversary Gala Featuring John Rich

The Capitol Report is a political news show based in Washington D.C. We provide the world with a direct channel to the voices and people who shape policy in America. Capitol Report features all of the political news of the day with expert interviews and analysis.