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WEKU
WEKU
Russell Lewis

SpaceX launches 4 people for a private mission to the International Space Station

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. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

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.

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.

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