US astronauts at space station after blast-off
NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken yesterday reached the International Space Station (ISS), nearly 19 hours after lift-off.
The pair began their journey on SpaceX’s the Crew Dragon capsule on top of the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida 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 obit 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.
Once the Dragon is sealed in place and pressure checks are completed, the hatch door will open and 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 Demo-2, 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.
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.
Shortly after the docking was completed, Mr Hurley congratulated the teams at Nasa and SpaceX said: “It’s been a real honour to be just a small part of this nine-year endeavour since the last time a United States spaceship has docked with the International Space Station.”
SpaceX founder Elon Musk said he was “overcome with emotion” after the astronauts launched into space on Saturday.
He said: “I think this is something that should really get people right in the heart - anyone who has a spirit of exploration.”
He added: “I am really quite overcome with emotion - it’s kind of hard to talk really.
“It’s been 18 years working towards this goal. It’s really hard to believe that it’s happened.
“This is a craft made by humans, for humans, I think it’s something humanity should be proud about occurring on this day.”
The Falcon 9 took off on Saturday at 8.22pm UK time from the Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral in Florida, carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The mission, named Demo-2, marks the first time Nasa has launched astronauts from US soil in nine years.