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From the launch of Cape Canaveral, at dawn on Monday, until arriving at the International Space Station, there was 27 hours and 33 minutes of flight, but the follow-up time for the entire Crew-1 mission is took much longer, as the astronauts began the installation process in the Crew Dragon capsule until they finally entered the Station, around 6:40 am in mainland Portugal. All eyes followed the historic mission, which officially recovers the launch of astronauts from American soil, with the first commercial voyage, in collaboration with SpaceX.
The four astronauts, the Americans Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and the Japanese Soichi Noguchi of the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), showed their satisfaction with the way the whole trip went without incident and joined the team that was already aboard the International Space Station, and which was part of Expedition 64. In their luggage, the new occupants of the “house” of astronauts orbiting the Earth brought with them a child Yoda, who served as a test for microgravity and that it came from starting a social media star.
Mission Crew-1 began its journey to the International Space Station (ISS) after a successful “hitchhiking” launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Monday morning at 12:27 am in Lisbon .
SAPO TEK closely followed the entire route, between the preparations and the 27 hours and 33 minutes of flight, plus the arrival at the Space Station by 4 am today, and also the long process of stabilization and pressure equalization between Space Station and Crew Dragon, until the two hatches opened so that the astronauts could finally meet.
The first official mission joining SpaceX and NASA, out of a set of six on the commercial crew program, is another step towards a new era of regular manned flights from North American territory. In March, the Demo-2 mission was successful and now NASA and SpaceX confirm the same success with Crew-1, which traveled in the “twin” Resilience.
As expected, the team of astronauts aboard the Crew Dragon capsule arrived at the Space Station at around 11am EST, 4am Tuesday morning. After docking, a slow process that required great care and precision, it took a few hours to stabilize and equalize the pressure between the Space Station and Crew Dragon. Only then can the two hatches be opened, which is scheduled for 1:40 am EST, around 6:40 am in mainland Portugal.
The four astronauts traveling on Crew Dragon joined the three current occupants of the orbital station and a small ceremony was held with some official statements, this time without incident. Remember that when the Demo-2 mission arrived, between hugs and greetings, Douglas Hurley hit his head and bleeding.
All the preparation for the arrival at the International Space Station
Initial plans by NASA and SpaceX included launching the historic mission on October 31. However, a problem with the Falcon 9 engines, the same one found in the first launch attempt of the US Space Force GPS III-SV04 mission and in the rocket that would be used to launch the Sentinel-6 satellite, led to a delay for the 14 November.
The strong winds that were being felt in Cape Canaveral caused the mission to be postponed until November 15. During the night there was finally the “green light” for the launch.
Three minutes later, at an altitude of 90 kilometers, and when the Falcon 9 reached a speed of seven thousand kilometers per hour, the first stage of the rocket separated, returning to Earth and landing on the SpaceX “Just Read Instructions” platform in ‘Atlantic Ocean.
The first orbital flight authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration, after tests carried out in March, carries three astronauts from NASA and one from the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA). But in the luggage also follows a little girl Yoda, a doll from Disney’s Mandalorian series, who has enchanted social networks.
In addition to the “fluffy” effect, the plush also plays a role in showing when the ship’s environment is in microgravity, which is usually done with an object left loose in the capsule. In Demo-2 Doug Hurley took a small dinosaur called Tremor that was chosen by his children.
The team embarks on a six-month mission to the ISS, where it will conduct several scientific experiments in microgravity, joining the three astronauts at the Station and forming for the first time a group of seven scientists aboard the orbital station who recently celebrated the twentieth anniversary as a “home” for humans out of orbit.
Please note that the Falcon 9 that was used for the launch of Crew-1 and the first stage booster will be reused for the ship’s next mission, Crew-2, which will have two women as pilots. In addition, according to Benji Reed, head of manned flights for the SpaceX company, the company led by Elon Musk plans to launch seven missions to transport people and goods in the next 15 months.
The gallery below shows Crew Dragon’s maneuvering and approach diagrams to the International Space Station.
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