GNB Desk: The four astronauts from three countries docked at the International Space Station Saturday morning at 5:08 am ET after launching from the Florida coast early Friday as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission.
“Soft capture confirmed! Crew Dragon Endeavour arrived at the @Space_Station for the second time in its history,” NASA tweeted Saturday.
The crew consists of NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
After about a 23-hour ride, the Crew Dragon spacecraft docked at the ISS at 5:08 a.m. Saturday for the second time.
“It has been an incredible year for NASA and our Commercial Crew Program, with three crewed launches to the space station since last May,” NASA Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk said in blog post. “This is another important milestone for NASA, SpaceX, and our international partners at ESA and JAXA, and for the future of scientific research on board the space station. It will be an exciting moment to see our crews greet one another on station for our first crew handover under the Commercial Crew Program.”
According to NASA, the Crew-2 mission is the second of six crewed missions NASA and SpaceX will fly as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. This mission has several firsts, including:
- First commercial crew mission to fly two international partners;
- First commercial crew handover between astronauts on the space station as Crew-1 and Crew-2 astronauts will spend about five days together on station before Crew-1 returns to Earth;
- First reuse of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket on a crew mission –Crew Dragon Endeavour flew the historic Demo-2 mission and the Falcon 9 flew astronauts on the Crew-1 mission; and,
- First time two commercial crew spacecraft will be docked to station at the same time.
According to NASA, the Crew-2 members will conduct science and maintenance during a six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory and will return no earlier than Oct. 31. The Crew Dragon spacecraft can stay in orbit for at least 210 days, which is a NASA requirement.
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