Four astronauts who were aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule named Resilience have arrived at the International Space Station after circling 262 miles above Earth, where they will stay until spring.
What We Know:
- The Dragon capsule pulled up and docked late Monday night, following a 27-hour, completely automated flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The linkup occurred 262 miles (422 kilometers) above Idaho. The mission, called Crew-1, is set to bring Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker of NASA, along with Soichi Noguchi of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, to the International Space Station (ISS). They’re scheduled to stay there for six months, constituting the longest human spaceflight in NASA history.
- Commander Hopkins, Glover, Walker, and Noguchi have joined two Russians and one American who flew to the space station last month from Kazakhstan. Victor Glover is the first African-American to join the long haul. He was also presented his gold astronaut pin Monday.
- Between the four astronauts, they decided to name their capsule “Resilience” to provide hope and inspiration during the difficult year. According to NBC News, they will broadcast a tour of their capsule on Monday, showing off the touchscreen controls, storage areas, and their zero-gravity indicator: a small plush Baby Yoda.
- It is the first time there have been seven long-duration crew members aboard, a situation that has caused a scramble for beds. At least temporarily, Resilience commander, Hopkins will sleep aboard the capsule, while his crewmates sack out on the ISS.
For Sunday’s launch, NASA monitored the guests due to the pandemic. Elon Musk even tweeted out that he too felt ill. His launch day duties were replaced by the SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who made sure to mention that Musk would be participating remotely.
