NASA astronauts fly to the ISS with a Russian crew member on a new six-month mission

FOUR astronauts successfully landed on the International Space Station (ISS) today, ahead of a six-month mission.

With the help of SpaceX, NASA has deployed three of its own astronauts and one Roscosmos cosmonaut to the orbital outpost, where they will remain for the next 180 days.

Russian cosmonaut and mission specialist Alexander Grebenkin (L), and NASA astronaut pilot Michael Barratt (2nd from left), Commander Matthew Dominick (2nd from right), and mission specialist Jeanette Epps (R)Credit: Getty

Crew-8 plans to conduct several experiments aboard the ISSCredit: NASA

The crew includes NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, in addition to Russian Alexander Grebenkin.

The successful launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida marks SpaceX’s eighth NASA Commercial Crew flight to the ISS.

The mission got off to a rocky start when two previous launch windows were scrubbed by high winds.

Despite a small crack in the hatch seal, engineers concluded that this would not cause enough of a problem to abort the launch a third time.

Crew-8 plans to conduct hundreds of experiments aboard the ISS, including growing artificial replicas of human organs to study how microgravity affects degenerative diseases.