The spacecraft Crew Dragon carrying Japanese astronaut Onishi Takuya and three other crewmembers has been successfully launched on a trip to the International Space Station.



Onishi, two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut boarded the US private firm SpaceX's craft at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in the US state of Florida shortly after 4 p.m. local time on Friday.



After engine ignition, the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the spacecraft lifted off at 7:03 p.m. About 10 minutes later, the craft separated from the rocket on a planned orbit.



After detaching, Onishi communicated with ground control and expressed gratitude in Japanese to the people of Japan for their support.



He said he is experiencing zero gravity for the first time in nine years, and that he is enjoying the trip to the ISS which will take more than 28 hours.



Onishi is scheduled to stay on the ISS for about six months. It will be his second stay on the station, after his first flight in 2016.



During his mission, Onishi will install a new carbon dioxide removal system developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on the ISS's Kibo laboratory module, and conduct experiments to prepare for future manned space exploration.



Onishi will take over command of the ISS, the third Japanese to assume the role, following Wakata Koichi in 2014 and Hoshide Akihiko in 2021.