Four astronauts on way to International Space Station – as it happened
This blog is now closed. You can read our story on the launch below:
5.51am GMT
SpaceX has launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on the first full-fledged taxi flight for Nasa by a private company.
The Falcon rocket thundered into the night from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with three Americans and one Japanese onboard, the second crew to be launched by SpaceX. The Dragon capsule on top - named Resilience by its crew in light of this year's many challenges, most notably Covid-19 - is due to reach the space station after 27-and-a-half hours and remain there until spring.
Related: SpaceX Nasa launch: astronauts head to International Space Station onboard Dragon capsule
5.30am GMT
Ah, before I go, we've just received two good updates on the two issues that the Dragon was experiencing.
The propellant heaters have been recovered and brought back to full fault tolerance - in other words, problem solved:
F9/Crew-1: The SpaceX CORE comms officer says the propellant line heaters are now back in operation and fully nominal! That means the Crew Dragon is back to full redundancy in that system
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