\n A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with its Crew Dragon capsule launches from pad LC-39A during Axiom Space’s Ax-3 Mission at the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on January 18, 2024.
\n <\/p>\n
Chandan Khanna\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
<\/b>
\n hide caption<\/b><\/b>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
toggle caption<\/b><\/b>\n <\/div>\n
<\/p>\n Chandan Khanna\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n <\/span>\n<\/div>\n A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with its Crew Dragon capsule launches from pad LC-39A during Axiom Space’s Ax-3 Mission at the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on January 18, 2024.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chandan Khanna\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n The first all-European commercial crew is on its way to the International Space Station after an early evening SpaceX launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. <\/p>\n Unlike a NASA mission, this one is paid for by Axiom Space, a Houston-based company flying its third group of paying passengers to the I.S.S. It contracts with SpaceX to get to and from the orbital laboratory. Axiom plans to build its own space station in orbit one day and it’s using these missions to help in its planning and designs. <\/p>\n An attempt to launch the mission Wednesday was called off several hours before its scheduled flight. SpaceX and Axiom said they needed additional time “to complete pre-launch checkouts and data analysis, including the parachute system energy modulator.” The next day SpaceX said<\/a>, “all systems are looking good for today’s launch” without elaborating further. <\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2024\/01\/18\/gettyimages-1935916851_wide-e14f48d6cfeab182b186d422ae20607bebe188e6-s1200.jpg\")
\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n