Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX was due to launch the next long-duration astronaut crew to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA early on Wednesday, including a medical doctor turned spacewalker and a geologist specializing in Martian landslides.
The SpaceX launch vehicle, consisting of a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Freedom, was set for liftoff with its four-member crew at 3:52 a.m. EDT from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The latest mission, designated Crew 4, would mark the fourth full-fledged ISS crew NASA has sent to orbit aboard a SpaceX vehicle since the private rocket venture founded by Musk, also owner of electric carmaker Tesla Inc During that expedition, he performed two spacewalks and participated in more than 100 science projects, including the "Veggie" lettuce experiment that marked the first time a U.S. crew member ate a crop grown in orbit.
The Crew 4 flight will make Watkins the first African American woman to join a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station. She follows in the footsteps of only seven other Black astronauts to have boarded ISS since its inception more than two decades ago.
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