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Four astronauts aboard a newly designed spaceship from Elon Musk’s SpaceX have docked at the International Space Station.
Key points:
- The four astronauts will remain in the orbiting laboratory until the replacements arrive in April
- They called their capsule “resilience” to inspire hope during a difficult year
- It docked after a 27-hour flight from NASA’s Space Center
It is the first manned mission on a privately built space capsule purchased by NASA.
The dragon capsule is docked late Monday night (local time) after a fully automated 27-hour flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
“Oh, what a beautiful voice to hear,” space station astronaut Kate Rubins shouted when the dragon’s commander, Mike Hopkins, first made radio contact.
The connection occurred 422 kilometers above Idaho.
Mr Hopkins and his crew – Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and the Japanese Soichi Noguchi – join two Russians and an American who flew to the space station last month from Kazakhstan.
Mr Glover is the first African American to move on a long trip.
A newcomer to space, Mr. Glover received his gold astronaut pin on Monday.
As they prepared for connection to the space station, the Dragon crew teleported a window of live views of New Zealand and the bright blue, cloud-streaked Pacific 250 miles below.
“That sounds incredible,” Mission Control radioed from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
“It looks incredible even from up here,” replied Mr. Hopkins.
They will remain in the orbiting lab until their replacements arrive on another dragon in April.
The four astronauts called their capsule “resilience” to provide hope and inspiration during a particularly difficult year for the entire world.
On Monday, they aired a tour of their capsule, showing the touchscreen controls, storage areas, and their zero-gravity indicator: a small Baby Yoda plush.
Ms. Walker said it was a little tighter for them than for the two astronauts on the test flight.
“We dance around each other to keep each other away,” he said.
For the SpaceX launch on Sunday, NASA kept guests to a minimum due to the coronavirus, and even Mr. Musk had to stay away after tweeting that he “most likely” had an infection.
He was replaced in his official launch duties by SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, who assured reporters that he was still heavily involved in Sunday night’s action, albeit from a distance.
This is the second astronaut mission for SpaceX, but the first time that Mr. Musk’s company has delivered a crew for a six-month stay at the station.
The test flight with two pilots earlier this year lasted two months.
AP / Reuters
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