Astronauts including France's Thomas Pesquet to lift off for ISS aboard SpaceX capsule

A SpaceX mission is set to blast off for the International Space Station Friday morning from Cape Canaveral in Florida. SpaceX's international crew includes astronauts from the United States, Japan and France. Frenchman Thomas Pesquet will become the first European to command the ISS during a portion of the six-month mission, orbiting 400km above the Earth's surface. Follow FRANCE 24's live coverage of the launch.

• Originally slated for Thursday, liftoff was postponed to Friday due to unfavourable weather conditions on the Atlantic Coast. The launch is now set for 5:49am local time (9:49 GMT).
• An international team of four astronauts will take their places inside SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule for a six-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS): Americans Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japan's Akihiko Hoshide and, representing the European Space Agency, France's Thomas Pesquet.
• The French astronaut, who is making a return trip to the ISS after previous stays in 2016 and 2017, will become the first European commander of the ISS during a month-long portion of the mission.
• The mission is the first to rely on a booster and capsule deployed previously, an initiative meant to keep costs down as NASA partners with private industry on human spaceflight.