SpaceX Crew-11 Launches After Weather Delay

NASA and SpaceX launched the multinational Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center following a one-day weather delay. The crew, commanded by Zena Cardman and including Mike Fincke (NASA), Kimiya Yui (JAXA), and Oleg Platonov (Roscosmos), replaces astronauts who filled in during Boeing's Starliner issues. The Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule, on its sixth flight, is scheduled to dock with the ISS roughly 15 hours after launch. The six-month mission will feature scientific research, technology demonstrations, simulated Moon landing scenarios for Artemis program support, and studies on microgravity using Armenian pomegranate seeds. Cardman, a biologist and polar explorer from Virginia, expressed excitement after her previous delay. The mission highlights the ISS’s ongoing role in deep space preparation ahead of its planned decommissioning after 2030.