A SpaceX rocket carrying three American astronauts and one Russian has lifted off from Florida and is headed for the International Space Station (ISS).
They have a six-month mission, and space is one of the few areas where the US and Russia continue to cooperate closely despite the war in Ukraine, BBC reports.
The three men and one woman are in a capsule used in space four times before by Elon Musk's SpaceX company.
They plan to carry out various experiments.
Their research will involve growing artificial replicas of human organs to study degenerative diseases in low-gravity environments - which is not possible on Earth.
The crew blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:53 p.m. local time (3:53 a.m. GMT on March 4).
The first launch attempt on Saturday was canceled due to high winds.
Matthew Dominik is the mission controller and, along with American Janet Epps and Russian Alexander Grebenkin, is making his first flight into space.
The other crew member is doctor Michael Barratt, who is visiting the ISS for the third time.
The ISS is a rare area of international cooperation between different world governments and is supported by the space agencies of Canada, Europe, Japan, the United States and Russia. / BGNES
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
