SpaceX launches NASA mission to International Space Station

 Elon Musk's SpaceX sent a NASA mission to the International Space Station(ISS) on Wednesday as the Crew-4 mission blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center.

During the 16-hour flight to the ISS, the Dragon and the Crew-4 astronauts will orbit the Earth ten times, SpaceX said in a tweet as the mission lifted off.

Crew-4 will carry out scientific experiments including conduct breakthrough research on growing plants without soil in space.

SpaceX's latest mission comes just days after a crew successfully landed off the Florida coast after spending over two weeks aboard the International Space Station in a boost for the commercial sector.

Axiom Space had paid SpaceX for the transport services and NASA for use of the ISS as the three businessmen onboard the flight reportedly paid $55 million each as SpaceX and NASA look to commercialise space ventures. 

The crew including Canadian financier Mark Pathy, Israeli investor Eytan Stibbe, Spanish-American astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and real estate mogul Larry Connor had blasted off on April 8.

Although they were set to spend just eight days on the ISS, however, bad weather forced them to stay 17 days in orbit with 15 on ISS. 

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