Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center became the site of yet another series of firsts in human space exploration as the latest Falcon 9 rocket took to the Florida skies on Jan. 18.
Sitting on top of it was the first all-European crew to go to space that did not include a Russian crew member.
The historic crew included Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria of Spain and the United States of America, pilot Colonel Walter Villadei of the Italian Air Force, and Mission Specialists Colonel Alper Gezeravci of Turkey and Lt. Colonel Marcus Wandt of Sweden.
This is the third mission operated by the private space company Axiom Space, called Ax-3, and it is also the first commercial spaceflight mission made up of government and ESA-sponsored national astronauts....
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