SpaceX’s Crew Dragon 2 spacecraft docked to ISS

SpaceX has successfully docked the Crew Dragon 2 human-crewed spacecraft with the ISS. A crew of four astronauts was delivered to the station. An important feature of the mission was the use (for the first time in history) of the reused first stage and ship.

Crew Dragon 2 left for the ISS on April 23. It was supposed to dock at the station at 12:09 Moscow time. The crew included astronauts from three space agencies. US NASA is represented by spacecraft commander Shane Kimbrough and pilot Megan McArthur. The mission specialists are ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.

The team will spend six months onboard the ISS. Crew Dragon 2 should return to Earth in the fall, no earlier than October 31st. Crew-3’s next human-crewed mission is scheduled for October 23rd, while Crew-4 is due in 2022.

Part of the crew of the Crew-3 mission has already been selected. ESA’s Matthias Maurer will command NASA astronaut Raja Chari and pilot Tom Marshburn. The fourth member of the crew will be named later – possibly Russian cosmonaut Sergei Korsakov.