BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Safely and ahead of schedule, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley docked with the International Space Station on Sunday, a crucial…
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Safely and ahead of schedule, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley docked with the International Space Station on Sunday, a crucial milestone in SpaceX’s first mission to fly humans to orbit.
Their 27-foot Crew Dragon capsule, launched from Kennedy Space Center at 3:22 p.m. EDT Saturday, made contact with the orbiting outpost at 10:16 a.m. – a timeline just shy of the predicted 19-hour trek. Docking was completed 14 minutes later with « hard capture, » or an airtight seal between the ISS and Crew Dragon.
« It’s been a real honor to be a small part of this nine-year endeavor since a United States spaceship has docked with the International Space Station, » mission commander Hurley said. « This is an incredible time to be at NASA. Three new vehicles to be flown, continuing missions to low-Earth orbit, and then to the moon and Mars.
