CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Minutes ahead of a 19-hour schedule, a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule manned by NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken has finally docked with the International Space Station, legitimizing a new era of cost effective human spaceflight for the United States.
The DM-2 mission, short for “Demo 2,” can be viewed in it’s entirety by scrolling through NASA’s official live feed:
The full docking was preceded by a “soft docking” to ensure the capsule was property hooked to the ISS, occurring 18 hours 58 minutes and 42 seconds after Saturday’s 3:22 p.m. launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Still in his suit, Hurley congratulated all involved upon the successful docking.
“We copy, docking complete.
We just wanted to say that it’s been a real honor to be just a small part of this nine-year endeavor since the last time a United States spaceship has docked with the International Space Station.
We have to congratulate the men and women of SpaceX at Hawthorne, McGregor, and at Kennedy Space Center.
Their incredible efforts over the last several years to make this possible can not go overstated.
We’d also like to thank Kathy Lueders and her team of the commercial crew program of NASA, an outstanding job by everyone.
I also would like to thank the men and women of the National Aeronautics and Space Institute, this is an incredible time to be at NASA; three new vehicles to be flown, continuing mission in low-earth orbit, and then to the moon and mars.
We thank you again, and congratulations.”
The mission will last for a now undermined amount of time, but no more than 110 days, according to NASA; upon it's conclusion, once Behnken and Hurley are back on board, the Crew Dragon capsule will autonomously undock and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, parachuting into the ocean off of Florida's east coast.
Both the capsule and the Falcon 9 rocket may be reused for future missions, slashing the cost of manned spaceflight as it existed prior to this mission’s success.
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