SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docks at ISS with astronauts from four countries
Four astronauts from four different countries arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) to begin a half-year mission.
On Sunday, SpaceX’s Dragon docked with the ISS nearly 30 hours after its Falcon 9 rocket launched the spacecraft and the crew to orbit from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule Endurance docked at the space station after flying a wide loop around the orbital outpost. Dragon and the station were soaring 261 miles above Australia at the time.
On the mission are Jasmin Moghbeli, a Marine pilot serving as commander, the European Space Agency’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa and Russia’s Konstantin Borisov.
‘Thank you so much,’ Crew-7 commander Jasmin Moghbeli of Nasa told SpaceX mission control after the successful docking.
‘I have to keep reminding myself that this is not a dream.’
The Crew-7 astronauts will be replacing four astronauts who have been living up there since March.
During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct science and technology demonstrations to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and to benefit humanity on Earth.
‘This is the first step of the journey, the real mission begins now,’ said Crew-7 pilot Andreas Mogensen.
The Crew-7 astronauts joined the seven already aboard the station, and all 11 astronauts then gathered for a short welcome ceremony to begin their joint mission.
The mission is the seventh operational commercial crew flight for Nasa by SpaceX and the company’s eighth for the US space agency overall.
Crew-7 is the first spaceflight for Moghbeli, a US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel who became the second Iranian-American to fly in space on the flight. It is also Borisov’s first flight.
While Morgensen and Furukawa have both flown to the ISS before, Morgensen is the first European ever to pilot a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
SpaceX’s Endurance capsule is also a space veteran, having flown the Crew-3 and Crew-5 astronaut missions to the station for Nasa.
Nasa and SpaceX included a special treat for Crew-7’s arrival at the ISS on Sunday, doing a fly-around of the ISS to get some fantastic photos.
Cameras on the space station also captured spectacular views of the Dragon Endurance capsule with the blue Earth in the background.
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