Oct. 5 (UPI) -- NASA and SpaceX's Crew-5 mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at noon EDT on Wednesday and is on its way to the International Space Station.
The crew, which includes NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, are scheduled to work aboard the space station for six months.
SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endurance capsule was carried into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket, which separated from the main vehicle and successfully landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Falcon 9 is designed as a partially reusable launch platform, with a first stage rocket that can be guided back to Earth. On Wednesday, it landed on a special drone ship after separating from the second stage. The second stage booster in this generation of Falcon is not reusable, but SpaceX's next manned vehicle project, the Starship, is expected to be have a fully reusable launch platform.