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A space capsule of the American company SpaceX was successfully docked Monday night at the International Space Station. As can be seen from the live images from the ISS, the first part of the docking process proceeded as planned after a 27-hour flight of the »Crew Dragon«.
The newly arrived crew – »Crew-1« – is the first to regularly fly the »Crew Dragon« to the ISS after the manned test was successful in the spring. The two American 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 hiatus of nearly nine years, that astronauts returned to orbit from US soil, and the first time they were transported by a private space company. SpaceX had previously only transported cargo to the ISS. Both the President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, and President Donald Trump, still in office, congratulated each other on the successful start via Twitter.
On board the “Crew Dragon” space capsule are two NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover, their NASA colleague Shannon Walker, and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. The four inmates join three ISS space travelers Sergej Ryschikow, Sergej Kud-Swertschkow and Kathleen Rubins for their long-term six-month mission.
For the past several years, American astronauts have completely relied on Russian rockets to reach the ISS. NASA halted its shuttle program nine years ago due to high costs and after two accidents.
The Boeing capsule is still in the testing phase
To regain independence from Russia, the United States government under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama commissioned Tesla founder Elon Musk’s SpaceX company and aviation giant Boeing to build space shuttles. Boeing’s “Starliner” capsule is still in the testing phase and, as expected, will not be ready before next year.
With the mission, SpaceX is now positioning itself as the US market leader in space travel. In late May, the company successfully sent two American astronauts on a two-month mission to the ISS for the first time.
NASA has two more manned SpaceX flights planned for next year, including in the spring with French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, as well as four unmanned supply flights to the ISS in the next 15 months.
