The Dragon capsule and launch vehicle have been used before.

Four astronauts will make their way to the International Space Station (ISS). There they replaced another crew and took the SpaceX ship into space. The new four will spend six months in orbit around the Earth.

The capsule and Falcon rocket are designed for multiple use. Both have been updated since the previous trip. The same space capsule used during the company’s first human voyage to ISS two years ago.

Reuse first with astronauts

Although SpaceX has a lot of experience reusing rockets and space capsules for cargo, this is the first time they have reused a ship for human use.

Three officials from NASA, Shane Kimbro, Frances Thomas Perquet from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Akihiko Hosheed from Japan are traveling to ISS for their second stay. NASA astronaut Megan McArthur was on her last trip in 2009 to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The astronauts are expected to arrive at the RSS on Saturday.

McAuther, the pilot of the largely autonomous space mission, married Bob Behengen, who played a similar role in the first spaceflight of the same capsule.

NASA is second in six

Friday’s launch is the second in a series of six missions to SpaceX by NASA’s SpaceX. Elon Musk controlled space company and aviation giant Boeing There are contracts for six such trips through the NASA program commercial crew.

After a process that began in 2010, the crew of Dragon and Space Liner have both been successful with space probes. But SpaceX and Boeing are facing delays due to technical challenges in getting humans into space. Therefore, U.S. astronauts have been passengers on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft since the spacecraft retired.