Four astronauts headed to the International Space Station on Sunday where they will oversee the arrivals of two new rocketships during their halfyear stint.

SpaceX’s Falcon rocket blasted off from Kennedy Space Center, carrying NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin.

The astronauts should reach the orbiting lab on Tuesday. They will replace a crew from the U.S., Denmark, Japan and Russia, who have been there since August.

“When are you getting here already?” space station commander Andreas Mogensen asked via X, formerly Twitter, after three days of delay due to high wind.

There was almost another postponement Sunday night. A small crack in the seal of the SpaceX capsule's hatch prompted a lastminute flurry of reviews, but it was deemed safe for the whole mission.

The new crew's sixmonth stay includes the arrival of two rocketships ordered by NASA. Boeing’s new Starliner capsule with test pilots is due in late April. A month or two later, Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser, a mini shuttle, should arrive. It is for delivering cargo to the station, but not passengers yet.


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