SpaceX Delivers New Crew to the International Space Station in Record Time
In a remarkable achievement for space travel, SpaceX successfully transported a new crew to the International Space Station (ISS) in just 15 hours, marking another milestone in modern space exploration. The crew, consisting of four astronauts from the United States, Japan, and Russia, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on August 2, 2025, and docked at the ISS, where they were warmly welcomed by their colleagues already stationed there.
The new arrivals include NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Each of these astronauts had originally been assigned to different missions but found themselves making this swift journey to the ISS due to a series of adjustments in mission schedules. Cardman and another astronaut were initially pulled from a SpaceX flight last year to accommodate NASA’s two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who had their stay on the ISS extended from one week to over nine months. Meanwhile, Fincke and Yui transitioned to SpaceX after their planned Starliner mission was delayed until 2026 due to ongoing technical issues.