Nicole Mann becomes first Native American woman in space on Crew-5 mission

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with quartet including first Russian to join US space flight since Ukraine invasion to blast off on Wednesday

Nicole Mann has become the first Native American woman in space as she lifted off in command of a flight to the International Space Station on Wednesday that also included the first Russian to join a US space flight since the invasion of Ukraine.

Mann's journey on the launch vehicle, which consists of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon capsule named Endurance, took off on schedule at noon from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.