Early Tuesday, a SpaceX Dragon capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) after more than 24 hours since launching from the Florida coast. The capsule carried three American astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut, making for an exciting international crew.
The spacecraft, which launched as the payload of a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 10:53 p.m. EST on Sunday, docked with the ISS' forward-facing Harmony module at 2:28 a.m. EST. The docking marks the start of a busy period of activities, including pressurizing the vestibule and checking for leaks, before opening the hatch, expected to take less than two hours.
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Onboard the Dragon capsule are NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, alongside Alexander Grebenkin of Russia's Roscosmos space agency. They will be relieving the current crew, Crew-7, who have been on the ISS since August. Once the hatch is open, the Crew-8 quartet will be greeted by the seven-member Expedition 70 crew, kicking off their mission with a welcome ceremony.
After several days of handover activities, Crew-7 will then board the spacecraft and head back to Earth, concluding their six-month mission and passing the torch to Crew-8. While on the ISS, Crew-8 will conduct over 200 scientific experiments, including medical studies and technology demonstrations. Notably, some experiments will involve using stem cells to study degenerative diseases, highlighting the crew's diverse and impactful research objectives.
For Dominick, Epps, and Grebenkin, this mission marks their first journey into space, adding an extra layer of excitement to their scientific endeavors. Meanwhile, Barratt's participation marks his fourth journey into space, adding to his extensive spaceflight experience.
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