SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule completes space station docking
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule has arrived at the International Space Station, completing its second milestone in just over a day.
No-one was on board the Dragon capsule that launched Saturday on its first test flight, only an instrumented dummy.
Up early? Here’s your opportunity to watch the remarkable 17,500 mph, in-orbit dance that brings together the @Space_Station and @SpaceX’s #CrewDragon spacecraft. Tune in to see the final approach and docking: https://t.co/oJKHgK8eV7 pic.twitter.com/yIdJXxSNr3
— NASA (@NASA) March 3, 2019
But the three space station astronauts had front-row seats as the Dragon neatly docked on Sunday morning and became the first American-made, designed-for-crew spacecraft to pull up in eight years.
If the six-day demonstration goes well, SpaceX could launch two astronauts this summer under Nasa’s commercial crew programme.
Both astronauts were at SpaceX Mission Control in California, observing all the action.
While SpaceX has sent plenty of cargo Dragons to the space station, crew Dragon is a different vehicle.
It docked autonomously, instead of relying on the station’s robot arm for help.
