The arrival of Crew 11 clears the way for four other station fliers to return to Earth next week after a 145-day stay in space.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule homed in on the International Space Station early Saturday and glided in for a problem-free docking — delivering two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and a Japanese flier — to the outpost after a 16-hour rendezvous.
Catching up from behind and below, the Crew 11 Dragon Endeavour looped up ahead of the lab complex, then to a point directly above the outpost before slowly moving straight in for a linkup at the space-facing port of the forward Harmony module at 2:27 a.m. ET as the two spacecraft orbited 264 miles above the south Pacific Ocean.
Hooks and latches then engaged, pulling the Crew Dragon’s nose firmly into the docking mechanism, which locked the craft in place. Umbilicals automatically connected and flight controllers began a series of leak checks to verify an airtight structural seal.
„Endeavour, welcome to the International Space Station“, called NASA astronaut Jonny Kim from inside the ISS. „Zena, Mike, Kimi and Oleg, we have cold drinks, hot food and hugs waiting. See you soon.“
„Hello space station, Crew 11 is here!“ Endeavour pilot Mike Fincke, a three-flight veteran, enthusiastically replied. „And we are super excited to join Expedition 73. We will do our best to also be good stewards of our beautiful ISS during our stay.
