SpaceX crew makes historic docking with Space Station
A SpaceX capsule carrying two NASA astronauts docked at the International Space Station on Sunday morning, less than a day after a historic launch that marked the first time humans had ever traveled to orbit in a spacecraft built and operated by a private company.
The approach of the Crew
Dragon proceeded smoothly, about 15 minutes ahead of schedule, with a camera on the space station capturing the red, green and white lights of the capsule as it steadily crept up over the course of a couple of hours.
The astronauts, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, took over manual control for a while, firing the thrusters to nudge the position of the spacecraft, before turning control back to a computer for the final steps leading to docking.
Once the docking was completed, Hurley congratulated staff at SpaceX and NASA and said “It’s been a real honor to be just a small part of this nine-year endeavor since the last time a United States spaceship has docked with the International Space Station.”
The docking indicated that the first portion of the test flight with crew aboard was successful. The trip will be considered a complete success once the astronauts return to Earth in the near future, opening the way for more travel to the space station and orbit by astronauts and perhaps space tourists in the years to come.
The astronauts’ 19-hour trip began Saturday with a launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was the first trip to orbit from American soil by astronauts since NASA retired its space shuttles in 2011. The capsule blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket, also built by SpaceX, the company founded by billionaire Elon Musk.
Just after 1 p.m., close to three hours after docking, the hatch was opened between the Crew Dragon and the station. Soon after, the three astronauts already on the station welcomed Behnken and Hurley aboard, and the two new visitors were greeted with embraces and handshakes.