SpaceX delivers four astronauts to the International Space Station just fifteen hours after launch

(Patria) - SpaceX delivered a fresh crew to the International Space Station on Saturday, completing the journey in a swift fifteen hours, AP reported.

Four American, Russian and Japanese astronauts arrived in a SpaceX capsule after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. They will spend at least six months in the orbital laboratory, replacing colleagues who have been there since March. SpaceX will return that quartet as early as Wednesday.

Arriving are Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke from NASA, Kimiya Yui from Japan, and Oleg Platonov from Russia - each of whom was originally assigned to other missions.
Cardman and another astronaut were pulled from a SpaceX flight last year to make room for two stranded NASA astronauts, Boeing Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose stay on the space station was extended from one week to more than nine months.

Fincke and Yui had been training for the next Starliner mission. But, given that Starliner has been grounded due to thruster and other issues until 2026, the two were transferred to SpaceX.

Their arrival temporarily brings the space station population to eleven people.

While their taxi flight was fast by American standards, the Russians hold the record for the fastest trip to the space station - three hours.