NASA said the docking played out without any snafus, with the capsule’s 16 thrusters operating as designed and the entire process taking less time than originally anticipated.

Wall Street Journal

SpaceX Crew Capsule, With a Dummy Astronaut, Docks With Space Station

Operational test is part of work toward historic shift to industry-run space taxis

A photo taken from NASA TV showing the SpaceX capsule after it docked with the international space station, March 3.

By Andy Pasztor
Updated March 3, 2019 1:15 p.m. ET

A new-generation SpaceX capsule autonomously docked with the international space station on Sunday, in a successful test of computers and maneuvering systems deemed essential to carry U.S. astronauts on future missions.

The initial demonstration flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which blasted off from Florida a day earlier without people on board, is intended to show that SpaceX’s latest craft will be safe and reliable enough to start regular crew runs to the orbiting laboratory possibly later this year.

The high-profile mission was considered historic even before the gumdrop-shaped vehicle linked up with the station about 250 miles above the Earth. In large part, it aims to test navigational equipment, automated flight-control features and laser-assisted positioning hardware.

The voyage marks the first time since 2011, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration retired its space shuttle fleet, that a spacecraft designed and built in the U.S. to carry people has been blasted into orbit. Additional testing will be done before the Crew Dragon’s scheduled splash down in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, as NASA works toward its goal of privatizing human transportation to low-Earth orbit and eventually the moon’s surface.

After a flawless liftoff from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, the capsule—with a mannequin inside it equipped with sensors to record environmental changes and forces—executed a faster-than-usual route to the rendezvous point. The reason for the extra speed was to prevent certain thruster parts from freezing and potentially breaking off, NASA and SpaceX officials told reporters.

Under careful monitoring from NASA experts on the ground and crew members on the station itself, the capsule conducted a stately, computer-choreographed approach to catch up with and swing in front of the docking port on the station. Approaching sometimes at a velocity of barely a few inches a second, it took more than half an hour for the spacecraft to make its way to a distance of roughly 450 feet from some 3,000 feet away from the orbiting laboratory. After retreating briefly to test thrusters and other systems, SpaceX controllers gave the command for the final approach from 60 feet away.

Narrators on NASA’s live video feed of the maneuvers said the docking played out without any snafus, with the capsule’s 16 thrusters operating as designed and the entire process taking less time than originally anticipated.

Hours after the docking, NASA chief James Bridenstine posted a message on Twitter saying “a new generation of space flight starts now” and “congratulations to all for this historic achievement getting us closer to flying American astronauts on American rockets.”

SpaceX’s cargo capsules also use automated approaches, but during the final phase they are grabbed by a mechanical arm operated by a crew member on the station. Crew Dragons are designed to softly contact a ring attached to the docking port and then they are pulled in and firmly grappled by a dozen hooks on the station.

With its nose cone opened, the video showed dramatic images of the largely white capsule visible in bright sunlight inching toward a protruding portion of the station, with both orbiting in tandem at more than 17,000 miles an hour. The docking was completed in darkness.

Even before Sunday’s heavenly hookup at 5:51 a.m. ET, NASA officials and leaders of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, enthused over trying out the latest in-orbit technology.

Elon Musk, who set up closely held SpaceX about 17 years ago near a Southern California strip mall with barely a dozen employees, told reporters after the craft reached space that he was “emotionally exhausted” from the stress of the launch.

Another major technology challenge facing the mission relates to demonstrating proper functioning of parachutes. SpaceX has encountered parachute problems in some previous Crew Dragon tests simulating returns from space.

Leading up to Sunday’s activities, Mr. Bridenstine stressed the longer term implications of commercial crew transport. Streamlined screens that astronauts will use to basically monitor missions, he told reporters before launch, mean the capsule’s interior “looks as much as possible as the inside of a cockpit of a commercial airliner.” The upshot, Mr. Bridenstine said, is that Crew Dragons ultimately can be used for a broad range of commercial missions unrelated to NASA.

Boeing Co. is developing its own crew vehicle under a separate NASA contract, and current program timetables also project it could start transporting astronauts as soon as this year.

Agency policies are driving toward a basic goal, the NASA chief said at the same Saturday press event. Over the next decade, he said, the agency seeks “to be one customer of many customers in a robust marketplace” focused on an array of low-Earth orbit endeavors.

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Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com

Appeared in the March 4, 2019, print edition as 'SpaceX Craft, In Test, Docks With Station.'