Astronauts bid emotional farewell to space station crew

It's a package holiday with a difference: NASA has said it is opening up the International Space Station to commercial space travel. But you will need deep pockets to venture into deep space.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, three astronauts have returned to Earth. Their replacements spent a month in quarantine, unable to see their families, before traveling to the space station.

Some 19 hours after blast-off from Florida, the capsule built by Elon Musk's private space firm has arrived at its destination. NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will spend up to four months on the ISS.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet will be the first European to fly on board the new SpaceX Dragon 2, which is due to blast off from Cape Canaveral for the International Space Station in the spring of 2021. Pesquet already spent six months on board the ISS from November 2016 to June 2017. He spoke to FRANCE 24 about training for his return to space, why his new mission is called "Alpha" and why he thinks a manned mission to Mars will happen within his lifetime.

Four astronauts aboard the SpaceX Dragon arrived safely at the International Space Station for a six-month mission.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet has already made his childhood dream come true and will soon relive it again. In the spring of 2021, he will return to space on board SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, headed for the International Space Station (ISS). In an interview with FRANCE 24, Pesquet told us more about his mission. He also reacted to the historic launch of the same Crew Dragon capsule from Florida on a flight to the ISS with four astronauts on board. Sunday's launch is NASA's first fully fledged mission sending a crew into orbit on board a privately owned spacecraft.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft moves from one port of the International Space Station to another in order to make way for the arrival of the SpaceX Crew-2 Dragon mission in a few weeks, and the SpaceX CRS-22 Dragon mission later this summer.

It's an immense moment of pride for the whole team as French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and his crewmates return to Earth. The four astronauts splashed down successfully off the coast of Florida in a SpaceX capsule. It marks the end of Pesquet's six-month mission in space, where he became the first ever French astronaut to command the International Space Station. We spoke to his colleague and friend Rémi Canton, who led the mission for the CNES, the French space studies agency.

Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is the fifth European to take command of the ISS. She says the space station gives her hope for peace on Earth.

The Soyuz MS-23 has been sent on a mission to bring back three astronauts from the ISS. It carried 429 kg additional cargo required to extend their stay.

The launch was postponed due to a "ground system issue." The four astronauts would have been the sixth crew to be transported to the ISS by a SpaceX rocket.