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This week, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, called “Resilience,” transported three NASA astronauts and one JAXA astronaut to the International Space Station. The crew arrived at their destination on November 17, 2020.
The astronauts were flown into orbit on Tuesday in what NASA hopes would be the first of “many routine missions, ending US dependence on Russian rockets.”
Crew Dragon Resilience arrives at the space station
Docking with the International Space Station
The SpaceX “Resilience” crew capsule, carried into orbit by the reusable SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, docked autonomously with the space station at 04:01 GMT (6:01 South African Standard Time SAST) on Tuesday
After completing the 27.5-hour journey, the astronauts floated in zero gravity through a hatch and onto the ISS, where they were greeted by the station’s three crew members.
The crew on the ISS currently consists of two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut, who will remain on the orbiting station for another six months.
NASA too confirmed which is the “first time that the crew size of a long-duration space station expedition will increase from 6 to 7 crew members.”
Watch: Crew Dragon Resilience docking on the ISS
“It’s what makes human spaceflight so fun and challenging … is that you always have to realize that you are maintaining human safety in a difficult environment.” Chief of NASA’s human space flight @KathyLueders about what it means to have more crew members in orbit. pic.twitter.com/t5LmvIXhcO
– NASA (@NASA) November 17, 2020
NASA’s head of human spaceflight programs Kathy Leuders sent a video recording to astronauts aboard the space station, with the following message:
“Thank you for allowing me to greet you all. I just want to tell you how proud we are of you. “
SpaceX has confirmed that it will launch two more manned flights in 2021, as well as cargo refueling missions over the next 15 months. Rest assured, we will have live streams ready to be released when that happens.
What is “Launch America”
In August, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley (affectionately known as Bob and Doug) became the first astronauts to launch on the ISS from American soil in nearly a decade.
Until then, all of SpaceX’s trips to the ISS were for research and refueling purposes only. America has had to rely on Russian Soyuz rockets since 2011, when the US shuttle program fell apart.
Unfortunately, that deal came in at $ 80 million per astronaut, per trip. The US has now partnered with SpaceX and Boeing, accepting approximately $ 7 billion for both “space taxi” companies.
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