The first manned SpaceX spacecraft was safely docked on the ISS

The first manned SpaceX spacecraft was safely docked on the ISS

Four astronauts arrived at the International Space Station aboard the “Crew Dragon” space transporter operated by the private company SpaceX. The “Crew Dragon” docked at the ISS after more than 27 hours of flight, US space agency NASA announced Tuesday night.

The probe was launched Sunday evening (local time) six months after its historic maiden flight from the spaceport of Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida, for the first time for a regular mission into space. Both US President-elect Joe Biden and incumbent President Donald Trump congratulated on Twitter.

American NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker as well as Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi will remain aboard the ISS for six months and will monitor various experiments. Astronaut Kate Rubins and her Russian colleagues Sergej Ryschikow and Sergej Kud-Swertschkow are currently on the station.

The newly arrived crew – “Crew-1” – is the first to regularly fly the ISS in the “Crew Dragon” after the manned test was successful in the 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. (sda / dpa)