CentralX Space Capsule Astronauts board International Station after successful dockingWashington, May 31, 2020 (AFP) – The two astronauts from SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule boarded the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday after a successful docking, the first time in nearly A decade ago, a manned American spacecraft managed to complete that maneuver. The hatch between the two ships opened at 17H02 GMT, and soon afterward the astronauts entered the ISS, where they met with their current residents. Doug Hurley, 53, and Bob Behnkhen, 49, who took off on a Falcon 9 rocket the day before from Florida, are the first astronauts to arrive at the space station thanks to a private company vehicle.The first contact and docking with the station occurred at 2:16 p.m. GMT, a few minutes ahead of schedule, it was reported when the ISS orbited 422 km from Earth, over the border between Mongolia and northern China. “The coupling is complete or, “said Hurley, who along with Behnkhen is a veteran of NASA’s space shuttle program, completed in 2011. Soon after, the procedure was completed with an airtight seal. The mission’s success, in addition to a triumph for SpaceX, Founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, this is a milestone in what NASA sees as a new era of space exploration that relies on collaboration between the agency and private companies. This historic mission is the most dangerous and high-level ever entrusted by NASA to a private. “It has been a true honor to be a small part of this nine-year effort since the last time a United States spacecraft has docked with the International Space Station,” Hurley said. Crew Dragon crews were greeted on the ISS by their current residents, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner. The Crew Dragon had spent the previous 19 hours chasing the space station at speeds of 28,000 km / h, prior to alignment with the ISS orbital plane and a slowdown that allowed it to perform the delicate docking maneuver.
– First step towards Mars –
The capsule’s journey began Saturday afternoon, when it took off smoothly powered by a SpaceX two-stage Falcon 9 rocket from platform 39A at Kennedy Space Center, a first launch attempt due to be canceled on Wednesday due to bad weather conditions. “I am overwhelmed with emotion,” said Musk. “It has been 18 years working towards this goal.” “This is probably the first step on the journey towards a civilization on Mars,” added the founder of SpaceX. During a brief interview from space, Hurley said that, to maintain a tradition, Together with Behnken, they named the capsule in which they travel “Endeavor”, in tribute to the space shuttle, now out of service, which they both manned. The mission, called “Demo-2”, ends the government monopoly on space travel and as a final test allows NASA to certify the capsule to carry out regular manned missions from now on. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, who, along with Vice President Mike Pence, witnessed the takeoff at the Kennedy Space Center, told NASA and SpaceX employees Saturday that it was a “special day.” Trump again mentioned his intention to pose a US astronaut again. on the Moon in 2024, and to carry out an eventual manned mission to Mars.The Crew Dragon mission takes place amid the pandemic of the new coronavirus, and an outbreak of violence in several cities in the United States due to the death of a black man at the hands of the police in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota.ia / jm / mls / piz / rsr
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