NASA's newest astronauts mission has arrived at its destination.
The Crew-5 mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After a 29-hour chase, the Dragon caught up with the space station today.
At 5:01 p.m., Endurance made contact with the forward port of the station'sHarmony module. The two spaceships were flying over the ocean off the coast of West Africa. About 10 minutes later, the docking operation was done.
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Around 6:30 p.m., the hatches between the two space stations opened. About 10 minutes later, the Crew-5 astronauts, NASA's Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan's Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina, flew into the space station. They'll live on the International Space Station.
The welcome ceremony for the new arrivals is scheduled to take place at 8:05 pm. On October 7th, it starts at 0005GMT. At Space.com, you can watch it.
Mann is the first Native American woman in space and Kikina is the first cosmonaut. Wakata has been to space five times.
The Crew 3 mission was ferried by the Dragon endurance. Each Crew Dragon capsule is refurbished and tested before it is put to use. A new heat shield, parachutes and nose cone were included in the flight.
The Crew-5 liftoff featured a Falcon 9 with a brand new first stage. The booster was bright white and free of soot that can be seen on the reflown first stages.
The manager of NASA's commercial crew program said that they like getting the new boosters.
Safety improvements to the boosters are made every time a new one is put in the fleet. We like the reflown boosters, but we appreciate a lot more if we get a new one.
The Crew-5 astronauts are going to join seven crewmates already aboard the International Space Station. Sarah Walker said that Crew-5's arrival began the clock for Crew-4's departure from the station.
The exact timing of Crew-4's splashdown return off the coast of Florida is dependent on the weather.
We'll keep an eye on the weather. The vehicle that is supporting the Crew-4 mission is healthy and we will just watch for those conditions to safely bring the crew home.
The story was changed at 7 pm There was news of the hatch opening and the move of the crew to the International Space Station.
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