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A space capsule of the US company SpaceX was successfully docked on Monday evening at the International Space Station. As can be seen from the live images from the ISS, the first part of the docking process went according to plan after a 27 hour flight of the »Crew Dragon«.
The newly arrived crew – »Crew-1« – is the first to fly regularly with the »Crew Dragon« on the ISS after a successful manned test in spring. The two US astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken left for the ISS during this test in May and returned in August.
It was the first time after a nearly nine-year hiatus that astronauts had returned to orbit from American soil, and the first time they had been promoted by a private space company. SpaceX previously only carried cargo on the ISS. Both U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and incumbent President Donald Trump had congratulated on the successful start via Twitter.
The two NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover, their NASA colleague Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi are aboard the “Crew Dragon” space capsule. The four inmates join three ISS space travelers Sergej Ryschikow, Sergej Kud-Swertschkow and Kathleen Rubins for their six-month long-term mission.
In recent years, US astronauts have relied entirely on Russian rockets to reach the ISS. NASA stopped its shuttle program nine years ago due to high costs and after two accidents.
The Boeing capsule is still being tested
In order to regain independence from Russia, the US government under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama commissioned the SpaceX company by Tesla founder Elon Musk and aviation giant Boeing to build space shuttles. Boeing’s “Starliner” capsule is still in testing and, as expected, will not be ready until next year.
With the mission, SpaceX now positions itself as the US market leader in space travel. In late May, the company successfully sent two US astronauts on a two-month mission to the ISS for the first time.
Two more manned SpaceX flights are planned for NASA next year, including this spring with French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, as well as four unmanned refueling flights to the ISS over the next 15 months.
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