Crew with first astronaut from Turkey launched on flight to space station

Turkey's first astronaut and three European crew members launched from Florida on a mission to the International Space Station.

Turkey's first astronaut and three other crew members representing Europe were launched from Florida on January 28 on a voyage to the International Space Station in the latest commercially arranged mission from Texas startup Axiom Space.

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the Axiom quartet lifted off about an hour before sunset from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, beginning a planned 36-hour flight to the orbiting laboratory.

The launch was shown live on an Axiom webcast.

The autonomously operated Crew Dragon was expected to reach the International Space Station (ISS) early on Saturday morning and dock with the orbiting outpost some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

The mission was the third such flight organized by Houston-based Axiom over the past two years as the company builds on its business of putting astronauts sponsored by foreign governments and private enterprise into Earth orbit.

The company charges its customers at least $55 million for each astronaut seat.

Originally scheduled for January 17, the launch was postponed for 24 hours to allow more time for final inspections and data analysis, including for an issue related to the parachute system used to slow the capsule's return descent before splashdown, Axiom and SpaceX said.