Madrid, 26 (Europe Press)
The International Space Station is home to 11 crew members after the arrival of four new tenants on the Space X’s Crew 2 mission to replace the four of Crew 1 who will return on April 28.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft called Endeavor docked at the docking port of the station’s Harmony unit on April 24 at 9:08 UTC, just as both spacecraft were flying over the Indian Ocean at an altitude of 424 kilometers.
After completion of the leakage and pressure controls, the gates between the two ships were opened at 11.05 hours, and the four new tenants on the Crew 2 mission aboard the orbiting complex were received by the current resident crew members.
Now, 11 crew members coexist on the International Space Station: members of a newcomer Crew-2, consisting of NASA astronauts Shane Kembra and Megan MacArthur, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet and USA space agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshid; Who have joined the current Expedition 65 consisting of NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Mark Vande, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Nowitzki and Piotr Dubrov, according to NASA reports.
The Crew-2 members will be in sync for a few days with the astronauts who have traveled to the International Space Station as part of the Crew-1 mission. Crew-1 is currently scheduled to return with NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, along with astronaut JAXA Soichi Noguchi, on April 28. The second crew astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth in the fall of 2021.
NASA and SpaceX are also continuing preparations for the launch of the agency’s Crew-3 mission, which is currently scheduled for this fall.