The four members of Crew 11 joined seven other astronauts on the International Space Station early Saturday morning after a 15-hour flight from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov reached the ISS at 3:46 a.m. ET, NASA said.
At 2:27 a.m., the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked with the ISS's Harmony module, after which the crew performed standard leak and isolation checks between the two spacecraft.
The docking took place at an altitude of 264 miles above the South Pacific Ocean.
“Endeavour, welcome to the International Space Station,” said NASA astronaut Johnny Kim from the ISS. “Zena, Mike, Kimi, and Oleg, there are cold drinks, hot food, and hugs waiting for you. We’ll see you soon.”
There are already six ISS crew members on board: Takuya Onishi of JAXA, commander of the current Expedition 73; Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers of NASA; and cosmonauts Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky.
Crew 10 members Ayers, McClain, Onishi and Peskov, who have been on the ISS since mid-March, will soon be heading home.
“Hello, space station! Crew 11 has arrived!” replied Fincke, Endeavour’s pilot. “And we are thrilled to be part of Expedition 73. We will do our best to be good hosts to our wonderful ISS during our visit. The ISS has been operational and crewed for almost 25 years. We look forward to celebrating with you.”
The docking took place exactly five years after the landing of SpaceX's first crewed mission, the Demo-2 test flight, aboard Endeavour. The spacecraft has flown six missions and is the most used of the Crew Dragon capsules.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:43 a.m. Friday after Thursday's launch was canceled due to bad weather.
This is the first space flight for Cardman and Platonov, the second for Yui and the fourth for Fink.
Cardman and Platonov were scheduled to launch as part of Crew 9 last year on September 8, 2024, but the Dragon capsule was used to fly to the ISS by Boeing Starliner pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Their stay on board lasted nine months instead of one week due to issues with the Starliner.
“This has been the trip of a lifetime,” Cardman said. “We are incredibly grateful to be here. Thank you so much for the warm welcome. It was an amazing experience to see the space station for the first time, especially with such amazing crew members.”
SpaceX has conducted 11 operational missions with astronauts to the ISS. In addition, SpaceX has eight other crewed missions: Demo 2, four private projects by Axiom Space, and three independent orbital missions.
Sourse: www.upi.com
