Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on NASAs Crew-4 mission. The Crew-4 mission is carrying astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, Samantha Cristoforetti, and Jessica Watkins to the International Space Station. Follow us onTwitter.

Four astronauts strapped into their seats on SpaceXs Dragon Freedom spacecraft and rode a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit early Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning a 16-hour chase of the International Space Station. Liftoff from pad 39A occurred at 3:52 a.m. EDT (0752 GMT).

Kjell Lindgren, a veteran of 141 days in orbit on a previous flight, commands the Crew-4 mission to the space station. Pilot Bob Hines and mission specialist Jessica Watkins, both spaceflight rookies, are joining Lindgren on the mission. European Space Agency astronaut rounds out the crew.

With the successful launch Wednesday, the four-person crew began a mission lasting nearly five months at the space station, performing experiments and maintenance, conducting spacewalks, and continuing nearly 22 years of continuous human presence on the orbiting outpost.

The mission marks the seventh launch of astronauts by SpaceX since the first Dragon flight to carry people. It is SpaceXs fourth operational crew rotation flight for NASA under a multibillion-dollar contract.

The astronauts have spent the last week at the Kennedy Space Center undergoing final training and flight preps, and spending time with family before their multi-month expedition off the planet.

I plan to take a very long luxurious shower on that last day before launch, said Cristoforetti, an Italian-born flier poised for her second trip to space.

The Crew-4 astronauts are scheduled to arrive at the station for docking at 8:15 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0015 GMT Thursday).

Lindgren, Hines, Cristoforetti and Watkins will receive briefings from the four astronauts they are replacing on the station.

The flight plan calls for handover of at least five days between the new Crew-4 astronauts and the outgoing Crew-3 astronauts, who are tentatively scheduled to depart the station around May 4, targeting a splashdown off the coast of Florida around May 5, wrapping up their nearly six-month mission.

Commander Raja Chari, pilot Tom Marshburn, and mission specialists Matthias Maurer and Kayla Barron launched on the Crew-3 mission last November. They will ride SpaceXs Dragon Endurance spacecraft back to Earth, leaving the Crew-4 astronauts at the station with three Russian cosmonaut crewmates.

The Dragon Freedom spacecraft is the fourth, and likely last, human-rated vehicle to join SpaceXs fleet of reusable Dragon capsules. It joins Dragon Endeavour, Dragon Resilience, and Dragon Endurance in the companys inventory.

The Crew-4 mission launched on a Falcon 9 booster tail number B0167 flown on three previous missions. The booster stage launched for the first time last June 3 on a cargo mission to the space station, then flew again Nov. 10 with the Crew-3 mission. Most recently, the booster launched Dec. 18 with the Turksat 5B communications satellite.

There was a 90% chance of acceptable weather at the Kennedy Space Center for liftoff Wednesday morning, and a low-to-moderate risk of bad conditions along the Falcon 9s ascent corridor heading northeast over the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX monitors conditions downrange to ensure weather and sea states would be safe for a splashdown of the Dragon spacecraft in the event of an in-flight abort caused by a rocket failure.

The rockets first stage landed on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas parked in the Atlantic Ocean about 340 miles (545 kilometers) downrange from the launch pad.

Read our mission preview story for details on the Crew-4 launch.

ROCKET:Falcon 9 (B1067.4)

PAYLOAD:Crew Dragon Freedom on the Crew-4 mission

LAUNCH SITE:LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

LAUNCH DATE: April 27, 2022

LAUNCH TIME: 3:52:55a.m. EDT (0752:55 GMT)

LAUNCH WINDOW:Instantaneous

WEATHER FORECAST: 90% probability of acceptable weather

BOOSTER RECOVERY:A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship

LAUNCH AZIMUTH:Northeast

TARGET ORBIT:Approximately 130 miles by 143 miles (210 by 230 kilometers); Inclination of 51.6 degrees to the equator

DOCKING AT ISS:8:15p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 27 (0015 GMT on Thursday, April 28)

LANDING DATE:September 2022

LAUNCH TIMELINE:

MISSION STATS:

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