SpaceX Dragon crew of US, Russian, UAE astronauts docks safely at International Space Station
- The 4-member team will conduct more than 200 experiments and technology demonstrations aboard the station, such as research on human cell growth in space
- The mission marks the sixth long-duration ISS team SpaceX has flown for Nasa since the venture founded by Elon Musk began sending US astronauts to orbit in 2020
A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule arrived safely at the International Space Station (ISS) early on Friday, carrying two US astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and a United Arab Emirates astronaut to begin a six-month science mission.
The autonomously flying spacecraft dubbed Endeavour docked to the space station soon after 1.40am on Friday, nearly 25 hours after launching from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The coupling was confirmed as the ISS and capsule flew in tandem at 17,500 miles per hour (28,164kph) some 250 miles (240km) above Earth across the coast of East Africa, according to a live Nasa webcast of the rendezvous.
The four-member team was assigned to conduct more than 200 experiments and technology demonstrations aboard the space station, ranging from research on human cell growth in space to controlling combustible materials in microgravity.
Some of the research will help pave the way for future long-duration human expeditions to the Moon and beyond under Nasa’s Artemis programme, its successor to Apollo, the US space agency said.
The ISS crew also is responsible for performing maintenance and repairs aboard the station, and to prepare for the arrival and departure of other astronauts and cargo payloads.