SpaceX Successfully Launches Four Astronauts To Space

SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on Sunday on the first full-fledged taxi flight for NASA by a private company. Three Americans  (Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker) and Japan's Soichi Noguchi blasted off at 7:27 pm (0027 GMT Monday) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

US President-elect Joe Biden said that, "testament to the power of science and what we can accomplish by harnessing our innovation, ingenuity, and determination."

NASA took to its Twitter and shared a video with the caption,  "The Crew-1 mission has lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket from @NASAKennedy at 7:27pm ET and is en route to the space station. " Here is the tweet.

Resilience rises. 🚀

The Crew-1 mission has lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket from @NASAKennedy at 7:27pm ET and is en route to the @Space_Station. #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/5Q3uXSLvqt

— NASA (@NASA) November 16, 2020

Jim Bridenstine shares his thoughts on the successful crew-1 launch. He said that,  "This is a great day for the United States of America, and a great day for Japan, and we look forward to many more years of a great partnership... all the way to the Moon." He further added that, ""It is not over. This was a beautiful launch... but remember, this is a six-month mission, and it's the first of many."

Kathy Lueders, head of human spaceflight said that, "I'm choked up a little bit thinking about the folks who have spent years of their lives getting ready for this mission, and being able to see the crew fly today was just phenomenal."

Here are the first photos from the remote cameras of the launch of the crew-1 mission on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.

See the first photos from our remote cameras of the launch of the Crew-1 mission on @SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from @NASAKennedy. Check back for more! #LaunchAmerica 🚀📷➡️https://t.co/6OY3kX0Dni pic.twitter.com/6ySlgUDipq

— NASA HQ PHOTO (@nasahqphoto) November 16, 2020