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The Crew Dragon, named astronauts for this mission by Resilience, arrived on the ISS one minute after five in the morning of our time, connecting to Dock Adapter 2 (IDA-2).
The bulkhead between the ship and the station was then opened by the crew shortly after seven in the morning, that is, two hours after docking.
The @SpaceX #CrewDragon The hatch opened at 1:02 am ET and astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi entered the station moments later joining the crew of the Exp 64. https://t.co/yuOTrYN8CV pic.twitter.com/gbmPpibTXc
– Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) November 17, 2020
Thus ended the first phase of a regular mission of spacecraft owned by a private company involving the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
In the second phase, Crew Dragon must transport the astronauts to Earth safely. This will take place in about six months, now it should start in April 2021.
NASA hopes the current flight will usher in a new era of smooth connection with the orbital complex. The machine transported four astronauts to the ISS in automatic mode. However, if necessary, the crew could intervene, two astronauts tried it during a test flight in the spring.
The four new inhabitants of the international station are NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover and Michael Hopkins and their colleague from the Japanese space agency JAXA Soichi Noguchi.
In the spring they are expected to be replaced by four more astronauts, who will return to space on a SpaceX ship.
“We can’t wait to be on board” welcomed the crew of four members of the American Kate Rubins, who has been on the ISS since mid-October together with Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Sergei Kudo-Sverchkov.
four @Commercial_Crew astronauts joined the crew of the Exp 64 today shortly after the hatch between the @SpaceX #CrewDragon and the station opened at 1:02 am ET. More … https://t.co/oCr1yVfaee pic.twitter.com/cEqx3DEtFA
– Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) November 17, 2020
Glover is the first African American to take part in a long-term mission to an orbital station. Noguchi is once again the first person to fly into space in three different types of spaceships used in the past forty years. The current mission was the second one directed by SpaceX.
Do you ruse SpaceX like that?
Next year, the first paying customers could reach the ISS with SpaceX. As part of the reciprocity, NASA could also provide space for Russian astronauts to fly SpaceX.
NASA has ordered six flights from SpaceX, including this one. According to Spaceflightnow, the draft deal was sent to the US government for approval in mid-November.
In addition to SpaceX, another private company will transport astronauts to the ISS. However, Boeing still didn’t address the software problems when it failed its first unmanned demonstration mission. The second test flight of the Starliner machine has been postponed to next year.
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