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Japan’s Yui Launches to ISS with Crew Members; 2nd Trip for 55-Year-Old Astronaut

The Associated Press
A Space X Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Crew Dragon capsule lifts off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Friday.

By Keiichi Nakane / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

14:08 JST, August 2, 2025

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Kimiya Yui and three other crew members reached the International Space Station on Saturday after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Yui, a 55-year-old astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and his crewmates were launched in a Crew Dragon spacecraft attached to a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket lifted off with thunderous sounds as it headed for the ISS, which orbits at about 400 kilometers above the Earth.

This is Yui’s second space mission, following one in 2015.

The launch was initially scheduled for Thursday but postponed just before lift-off because weather conditions around the space center were poor.