“It’s been a wonderful ride up here, incredible experience,” Marshburn said. “And I don’t know about you guys, but it feels like the last two weeks have been pretty crazy.”īefore docking Thursday, Chari and his crewmates took time to downlink live television views of the Crew Dragon’s interior, describing the climb to orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket and life aboard Endurance. “Tonight’s docking was a perfect way for us to finish up what has been our 10 year anniversary year for the Commercial Crew Program,” Lueders said of NASA’s post-shuttle reliance on commercially developed spacecraft. We’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of exciting times coming up.”Ĭrew Dragon has docked with the International Space Station: /djb335bEPYīarron, Chari and Matthias are making their first space flight and moments after arriving at the space station, Marshburn, a veteran, presented astronaut pins to each, prompting more smiles and handshakes.Ĭhari and his crewmates blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center Wednesday night, 10 days late because of bad weather, a minor medical issue with one of the astronauts and a decision by NASA to bring four other astronauts home Monday before launching their replacements. “At this moment, we’ve got 60 experiments in progress, and of course by the time we finish our time up here, we’ll have participated in many more. “Every one of us, all seven of us are friends, and we’re going to become even better friends as time goes on. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see these smiling faces,” he said. Vande Hei, who’s midway through nearly a full year aboard the station, said he was thrilled with the Crew-3 astronauts’ arrival. “And I’m looking forward to many, many more amazing experiences to come over the next six months while you all are there. “We can’t wait to see all the work you all are going to accomplish,” Kathy Lueders, NASA’s chief of spaceflight operations, told the astronauts. A few minutes later, senior mangers passed along their congratulations. Making its first flight, the fully automated Crew Dragon “Endurance” approached the station from behind and below, looping up to a point directly in front of the lab before moving in for docking at the Harmony module’s forward port at 6:32 p.m.Īfter leak checks, hatches were opened and Expedition 66 commander Anton Shkaplerov, cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei welcomed their new crewmates aboard with hugs and handshakes. The day after a sky-lighting Florida launch, four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule chased down the International Space Station Thursday and glided in for a problem-free docking, kicking off a half-year stay aboard the orbital outpost.Ĭrew-3 commander Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron and German astronaut Matthias Maurer began the close approach phase of a 22-hour rendezvous shortly after wakeup around 2 p.m. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History.STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The newly-arrived Crew-3 astronauts, in blue suits, joined three other crew members at the International Space Station. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. He previously developed online content for the National Space Society and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, helped establish the space tourism company Space Adventures and currently serves on the History Committee of the American Astronautical Society, the advisory committee for The Mars Generation and leadership board of For All Moonkind. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018. Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of, an online publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture.
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