NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission launched Friday at 11:43 a.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center, sending four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) for a long-duration science expedition.

Aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft are NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA’s Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos’ Oleg Platonov.

Docking with the ISS is scheduled for early Saturday morning.

The mission, part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, will temporarily bring the ISS crew total to 11.

Crew-11 will support research on human health, lunar simulation, and stem cell production, NASA has reported.

The launch was praised by NASA leadership as a key milestone toward sustained Moon and future Mars missions under the Artemis program.

Written by B.C. Begley