CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Kyodo) -- Takuya Onishi and three fellow crew members embarked on Friday on a mission to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX rocket launched from Florida.

Onishi, traveling in SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule with American and Russian colleagues, is making his second trip to the ISS as part of NASA's mission, having last participated in 2016. This time, he is scheduled to orbit the Earth for around six months.

The crew will conduct experiments on carbon dioxide removal technology necessary for Gateway, a space station that will orbit the Moon as a centerpiece of the U.S.-led Artemis Moon exploration program.

The 49-year-old former All Nippon Airways pilot will assume the post of ISS commander, making him the third Japanese astronaut to lead a mission. Koichi Wakata led the ISS in 2014 and Akihiko Hoshide in 2021.

It was the second launch attempt by the spacecraft after its initially scheduled departure Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida was aborted due to a ground system malfunction.