A crew of astronauts aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule docked at the International Space Station, concluding a one-day trip to rendezvous with the ringing laboratory after launching from Florida early Thursday. The capsule made first contact with the space station at 1.40a.m. ET Friday. The astronauts are set to disembark from the capsule and join the seven astronauts on the space station just before 3 a.m. ET.
The spacecraft was slated to dock with the ISS around 1.15a.m. ET, but it was delayed as ground crews worked to troubleshoot an issue with a detector on the capsule’s docking tackle, which is used to latch the vehicle onto its harbour. The docking manoeuvre was delayed slightly, as SpaceX ground control brigades broke the capsule 65 bases from the ISS for 23 twinkles to corroborate that all 12 latching hooks were duly stationed, despite a defective detector showing a possible malfunction.
The issue was ultimately resolved after a software override by ground brigades. Once the capsule was secured to the ISS, the four-member crew went about conducting a series of standard leak checks and pressurizing the hallway between the capsule and the station’s innards, a process anticipated to take about two hours. The charge, designated Crew 6, marks the sixth long- duration ISS platoon that SpaceX has flown for NASA since May 2020. The crew is led by Stephen Bowen, a stager of three Space Shuttle breakouts and seven spacewalks, and includes fellow NASA astronaut Warren ”Woody” Hoburg, making his first spaceflight.
The team is rounded out by UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, the alternate person from his country to fly to space, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, a mastermind and spaceflight novitiate. The addition of Alneyadi in the Crew 6 charge is notable, as he’s the first person to launch from US soil as part of a long- duration space station team. Overall, the successful launch and docking of the Crew Dragon capsule represents another significant corner for SpaceX and its CEO, Elon Musk, as the private rocket adventure continues to make strides in the field of space disquisition.
