Axiom launches third mission to ISS, carrying European space hopes

An all-European crew including Turkiye's first astronaut launched for the International Space Station on Thursday. A SpaceX Crew Dragon fixed to the top of a Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Kennedy Space Center in Florida and should reach its destination early Saturday. Ax-3 Mission is the company's third launch to the space laboratory.

Turkish pilot and air force colonel Alper Gezeravci is joined by Walter Villadei who has previously flown to the edge of space on a Virgin Galactic space plane, and by Marcus Wandt from Sweden, who is also representing ESA. They are led by Axiom's Chief Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, a Spanish and US citizen and former NASA astronaut.