Latest: Astronauts board the International Space Station
This is the first SpaceX crew handover.
April 24, 2021 at 6:59 a.m. CDT
Nearly 24 hours after its on-time liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station, the first goal of its journey.
In a delicate dance, the spacecraft aligned itself with one of the station’s docking ports and parked itself. The maneuvers were directed completely by the spacecraft’s computers. Controllers on the ground and the astronauts on board the capsule and the station monitored closely, but the computers were in control.
The two crafts were then locked together by a dozen hooks. The astronauts then ensured that the seal between spacecraft and station was tight and that the air pressure inside the spacecraft and the station was the same. Then they opened the hatch and crossed into the station.
The Crew-2 astronauts have boarded the International Space Station, floating through the hatch to a warm welcome from their fellow astronauts on the orbiting laboratory.
First through the hatch was Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, followed by Thomas Pesquet of France, then NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough. They then gathered snugly around the hatch opening for a formal welcome ceremony.
“Let the Tetris game of fitting 11 crew members into a single frame begin,” NASA commentator Gary Jordon said during a live broadcast of the event.
The crew is scheduled to stay on board the station for six months performing science experiments and station upgrades.
This image provided by NASA, astronauts from SpaceX join the astronauts of the International Space Station for an interview on Saturday, April 24, 2021. A recycled SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts has arrived at the International Space Station, a day after launching from Florida. The Dragon capsule docked autonomously with the orbiting outpost on Saturday. (AP)
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The two crafts were then locked together by a dozen hooks. The astronauts then ensured that the seal between spacecraft and station was tight and that the air pressure inside the spacecraft and the station was the same. Then they opened the hatch and crossed into the station.
The Crew-2 astronauts have boarded the International Space Station, floating through the hatch to a warm welcome from their fellow astronauts on the orbiting laboratory.
First through the hatch was Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, followed by Thomas Pesquet of France, then NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough. They then gathered snugly around the hatch opening for a formal welcome ceremony.
“Let the Tetris game of fitting 11 crew members into a single frame begin,” NASA commentator Gary Jordon said during a live broadcast of the event.
The crew is scheduled to stay on board the station for six months performing science experiments and station upgrades.
This image provided by NASA, astronauts from SpaceX join the astronauts of the International Space Station for an interview on Saturday, April 24, 2021. A recycled SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts has arrived at the International Space Station, a day after launching from Florida. The Dragon capsule docked autonomously with the orbiting outpost on Saturday. (AP)
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