On Wednesday, April 27, at 3:52 a.m. ET, 7:52 UTC, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched Dragon’s fourth science expedition mission Crew-4 to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship.
Dragon will autonomously dock with the space station at approximately 8:15 p.m. ET (00:15 UTC April 28).
On its flight to the International Space Station, Dragon executed a series of burns that positioned the vehicle progressively closer to the station before performing final docking maneuvers, followed by pressurization of the vestibule, hatch opening and then crew ingress.
During their time at the orbiting laboratory, the Crew-4 astronauts will conduct more than 200 science experiments in areas such as materials science, health technologies, and plant science to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and benefit life on Earth.