Overview

• A dense-cloud-induced abort on Thursday gave way to a successful Falcon 9 launch from Kennedy Space Center at 15:43 GMT on Friday.
• Dragon Endeavour reached the ISS at about 07:00 GMT Saturday after a roughly 16-hour transit, marking the 11th operational crew rotation under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
• The Crew-11 roster combines NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke with JAXA’s Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos’s Oleg Platonov in a nod to enduring international collaboration.
• NASA engineers will oversee Dragon’s systems performance to decide if the crew’s six-month orbital assignment can safely be extended to eight months.
• The mission underscores SpaceX’s role in sustaining U.S. access to low-Earth orbit following Boeing Starliner’s technical setbacks that delayed astronaut rotations.