Four astronauts arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday after an eight-hour express flight that set a US speed record, led by the first Black woman to command a crew to orbit.
SpaceX launched commander Jessica Watkins and her crew for NASA after a three-week delay to fix their Dragon capsule’s leaking fuel system. Thick clouds threatened to halt the countdown all morning, but skies cleared enough to allow a safe liftoff from Cape Canaveral at 11:10 a.m.
Seven hours and 55 minutes later, the SpaceX Dragon “Grace” capsule docked at an ISS port, setting a record for the fastest trip by a US spacecraft to the outpost.
The Historic Commander
With the late-morning launch, Watkins became the first Black woman to lead a crew to orbit. A geologist who worked with NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity a decade ago, Watkins is making her second trip to the space station after a lengthy stay in 2022.
“We are so excited to be here. This is truly a special place,” Watkins said on the NASA livestream. “It’s amazing and kind of ironic to think that it’s such a short trip to get here because the journey to get here has been long.”
“Thanks for an amazing ride,” she radioed after liftoff.
The Crew
The other three astronauts are newcomers to space. Luke Delaney is a retired Marine, Joshua Kutryk is a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and Sergey Teteryatnikov is a former submariner.
Kutryk, whose wife will give birth while he is away, said it “feels really good” to represent his country in space. He is set to become the fourth man to become a father while orbiting Earth.
The Record
The duration of the journey depends on the distance between the ISS and the spacecraft at the time of launch. It took more than 30 hours for the last crew that launched from American soil to reach the station.
This was the 13th crew launched by SpaceX for NASA, not counting 2020’s test flight. The Crew-13 designation in their mission patch pays homage to Apollo 13, the 1970 moonshot that ended with the astronauts’ safe return. Watkins and her crew rode to the launch pad in black Teslas bearing plates that read “Lucky 13.”
The Bottom Line
SpaceX has set a US speed record with an eight-hour flight to the ISS, led by Jessica Watkins, the first Black woman to command a crew to orbit. The crew of four launched from Cape Canaveral after a three-week delay. They will spend six months aboard the space station, replacing four astronauts who have been there since February. The mission is SpaceX’s 13th crew launch for NASA.
My Opinion
Jessica Watkins just did something no Black woman has ever done. She commanded a crew to orbit. That is not a diversity milestone. That is history. And it happened on a mission that also set a US speed record.
The space industry has spent decades promising that the future would be inclusive. But promises are cheap. Watkins spent years as a geologist, worked on the Mars Curiosity rover, and flew to the ISS in 2022. She earned this command. The fact that it took until 2026 for a Black woman to lead a crew to orbit says more about the industry’s slow progress than about Watkins’ qualifications.
The crew also includes Joshua Kutryk, a Canadian who will become a father while orbiting Earth. NASA has promised to keep him connected to his family. That is a reminder that astronauts are not just explorers. They are parents, spouses, and children. They are human beings who leave their lives behind to push the boundaries of what is possible.
