? Crew-2 lifts off! The skies over NASAKennedy lit up like a fiery sunrise this morning, April 23, 2021, as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew Dragon Endeavour launched off the pad, rattling the Earth with 1.7 million pounds of thrust. Four astronauts from three different countries -- a first for a Commercial Crew mission -- are now en route to the International Space Station (iss). At 5:49 a.m. EDT (9:49 a.m. UTC), NASAAstronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, EuropeanSpaceAgency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, launched from NASAKennedy to begin a six-month science mission aboard our orbiting laboratory. Once there, they will conduct science experiments in biology, Earth science, and medicine, including a university student-led investigation to study possible causes for suppressed immune response in microgravity. They will also continue working on technology demonstrations that will prepare future Artemis astronauts for missions to the Moon. The Crew Dragon will dock autonomously to the iss on Saturday morning at approximately 5:10 a.m. EDT (9:10 a.m. UTC). You can watch it live on NASA TV: nasa.gov/live. Credits: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani/Joel Kowsky