Quartet heads skyward to join space station

A new crew of astronauts has left Earth, bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

The quartet - Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata, and Anna Kikina - departed Florida's Kennedy Space Centre at exactly midday, local time.

Their SpaceX Falcon rocket has put them on a path to catch the orbiting outpost in about 29 hours' time.

Nicole Mann is making a piece of history by becoming the first Native American to go to space.

Cosmonaut Kikina's participation continues the ride share agreement between Russia and the US.

The two countries have promised to keep carrying each other's spacefarers to orbit even though they are at odds over matters in Ukraine.

"Crew 5", as Wednesday's launch quartet are known in Nasa/SpaceX nomenclature, will temporarily boost the number of people living above the planet to 14.

This total is made up of the 11 who will shortly be occupying the ISS (including Crew 5) and the three Chinese "taikonauts" currently inhabiting the Asian nation's Tiangong space station.

Crew 5 is a mixture of first-timers and one hugely experienced flier.

Mann, Cassada and Kikina have never been to space before. But Japan's Koichi Wakata has been to orbit four times already.

Having previously gone up in three space shuttles and a Russian Soyuz capsule, he now joins a select group of spacefarers who've occupied seats on three different crew vehicles.

The latest one - SpaceX's Endurance capsule - is commanded by Nicole Mann.

She's had to wait an overly long time to make her debut, having completed her astronaut training back in 2015.

She had been assigned to a mission in Boeing's Starliner capsule, but this vehicle is so late getting into service that Nasa decided to pull her across to Crew 5 to give her the overdue in-flight experience.

Mann has the distinction of being the first Native American woman from Nasa to go to space. She is registered with the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes.

Mann is a colonel in the Marine Corps of the US military, and has experience flying various fighter aircraft. She has been awarded six medals for her service to the US military - including two deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

She spoke to the BBC during her training last month and said: "I really hope this mission will inspire young Native American children to follow their dreams and realise that some of those barriers that are there or used to be there are being broken down."

Josh Cassada is designated as Crew 5's pilot. As with Mann, he too had to be transferred across from a delayed Boeing Starliner mission.

Anna Kikina is currently the only woman in the Russian space agency's cosmonaut corps. Her launch makes her the fifth professional female Russian cosmonaut to go to orbit.

Wednesday's foursome are set to spend six months on the ISS.

Their first week will be spent getting a hand-over from Crew 4, who will then depart for Earth on 12 October.

The returning astronauts include Samantha Cristoforetti, Europe's first female commander of the International Space Station.