Peake hails ‘milestone’ as SpaceX crew reach destination
NASA ASTRONAUTS Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken have reached the International Space Station (ISS), nearly 19 hours after lifting off from Florida.
The pair began their journey on SpaceX’s the Crew Dragon capsule, on top of the Falcon 9 rocket, from Cape Canaveral, on Saturday evening.
Although the space station orbits at around 220 miles above the planet, it took almost a day for the Dragon to rendezvous with the moving laboratory.
The spacecraft had to perform a series of manoeuvres to raise its orbit to come close enough to dock at the space station.
The Dragon docked autonomously to a port on the bow section of the of the station’s Harmony module yesterday afternoon.
Once the Dragon is sealed in place and pressure checks completed, the hatch door is open, Mr Hurley and Mr Behnken will join the three other space station residents, Nasa’s Chris Cassidy and Russia’s Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, to become members of the Expedition 63 crew.
The mission, named Demo2, marks the first time Nasa has launched astronauts from US soil in nine years.
SpaceX also made history by becoming the first private company to send humans into orbit.
British astronaut Tim Peake tweeted: “Another milestone in the history of human spaceflight. Congratulations @SpaceX and welcome to the @Space_Station @AstroBehnken and @Astro_ Doug.”
The aim of the mission is to demonstrate SpaceX’s ability to ferry astronauts to the space station and back safely.
It is the final major step required by SpaceX’s astronaut carrier, the Crew Dragon, to get certified by Nasa’s Commercial Crew Programme for long-term manned missions to space.
The mission is expected to last anything between one and four months, with a number of tests being performed on the Dragon.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk said he was “overcome with emotion” after the astronauts launched into space.
He said: “I think this is something that should really get people right in the heart – anyone who has a spirit of exploration.”