SpaceX capsule with crew of four docks with ISS

WASHINGTON: A SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, kicking off a six-month stay on the orbiting outpost.

This mission known as Crew3 is part of Nasa’s multibilliondollar partnership with Elon Musk’s space company, signed after the Space Shuttle programme ended in 2011 and aimed at restoring US capacity to carry out human spaceflight, rather than depend on Russia for links to the ISS.

The ISS had been operating with just one Nasa astronaut in the US segment to welcome the incoming crew, after the astronauts of the earlier Crew2 mission splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday.

Crew-3’s Raja Chari, Kayla Barron and Tom Marshburn of the United States and Matthias Maurer of Germany travelled to space aboard a Crew Dragon capsule fixed to a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They blasted off late Wednesday.

The spaceship, called Endurance, docked with the ISS around 7.10pm Thursday (0010 GMT Friday).

The quartet will spend six months on the orbital outpost and conduct research to help inform future deep space exploration and benefit life on

— AFP photo This Nasa TV frame grab image captured shows the crew of the International Space Station (from left) Anton Shkaplerov, Marshburn, Barron, Chari, Maurer, Mark Vande Hei and (sitting) Pyotr Dubrov, after Crew-3 sucessfull docking.