SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour docks with the International Space Station on April 24, 2021.
NASA TV
The second operational SpaceX crew mission arrived at the International Space Station early on Saturday morning, carrying 4 astronauts for a six month keep in space.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft ‘Endeavour,’ which launched on a Falcon 9 rocket the day before, docked with the ISS at 5:22 a.m. EDT. The capsule carries a global cadre of astronauts: NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, JAXA’s Akihiko Hoshide and ESA’s Thomas Pesquet.
“Welcome to ISS, we are so excited to have you ever aboard,” NASA astronaut and space station commander Shannon Walker mentioned.
The Crew-2 mission briefly brings the whole variety of astronauts on board the orbiting analysis laboratory to 11.
The view from SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour of the International Space Station, as effectively as the firm’s Crew Dragon spacecraft Resilience, as the capsule approached to dock on April 24, 2021.
NASA TV
Endeavour joins one other Crew Dragon spacecraft, ‘Resilience,’ which arrived at the space station in November carrying astronauts for the Crew-1 mission. SpaceX is planning to return Resilience to Earth with the 4 Crew-1 astronauts on Wednesday, April 28.
From left: Mission specialist Thomas Pesquet of the ESA, pilot Megan McArthur of NASA, commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA, and mission specialist Akihiko Hoshide of JAXA.
SpaceX
The Crew-2 mission marks extra firsts for SpaceX as effectively, with the firm reusing each a rocket and a capsule for the mission, with Endeavour beforehand flying the Demo-2 mission and the Falcon 9 rocket booster beforehand launching the Crew-1 mission. Additionally, SpaceX surpassed the whole variety of astronauts launched to space below the Mercury program that started in 1958.
