For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – A four person team of astronauts successfully completed the first relocation of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft from one port to another one nearby on the International Space Station (ISS) in a flawless maneuver carried out early this morning, Monday, April 5, while orbiting above Earth to ready the orbiting outpost for a busy month of arrivals and departures.
To prepare for the relocation the SpaceX Crew-1 mission astronauts comprising NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, first put on the spacesuits and then boarded Crew Dragon Resilience – the same ship in which they launched to the ISS nearly 6 months ago in November 2020.
The efficient swap out of docking ports marked another important first for a US commercial crew spacecraft at the ISS and opens the way to a multitude of comings and goings every week this month by both NASA SpaceX Crew Dragon and Russian Soyuz spaceships.
After giving the command to fire the crafts Draco thrusters Crew Dragon Resilience autonomously undocked from the forward port of the station’s Harmony module at 6:30 a.m. EDT (1030 GMT) while flying 263 miles (400 km) over the Atlantic Ocean and the crew pulled away to a distance of about 60 meters (200 ft).
“The @SpaceX Crew Dragon undocked from Harmony’s forward-facing port at 6:30am ET while flying 263 miles over the Atlantic ocean. The vehicle will now relocate to the space-facing port for a docking scheduled at 7:15am,” NASA tweeted with video.
The @SpaceX Crew Dragon undocked from Harmony's forward-facing port at 6:30am ET while flying 263 miles over the Atlantic ocean. The vehicle will now relocate to the space-facing port for a docking scheduled at 7:15am. https://t.co/cBNqC5JGaz pic.twitter.com/5Qez37m8Xq
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 5, 2021
After a brief fly around of the station they commanded the re-approach autonomously and re-docked to the International Space Station and relocated to the space-facing (zenith) port at 7:08 a.m. EDT.
The @SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience, with Crew-1 astronauts aboard, re-docked to the station 7:08 am ET, marking another first for the @Commercial_Crew Program. Read more… https://t.co/2RaQPBmNbW pic.twitter.com/C1fiPd6LJ7
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 5, 2021
The entire trip lasted just 38 minutes but accomplished a critical task by vacating and opening up the forward port for arrival of the next Crew Dragon astronaut team.
Soft capture confirmed of the @SpaceX Crew Dragon to the space-facing port of the Harmony module. https://t.co/cBNqC5JGaz pic.twitter.com/GWIN264rEX
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 5, 2021
All four Crew-1 Dragon crew members had to be on board for the short trip in case of problems redocking and an unplanned early return to Earth
NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet are scheduled to launch to the station Thursday, April 22, on the Crew-2 mission from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Crew-2 will dock at the forward port on Harmony after they arrive at the ISS in late April for a new six month stay.
This April is a big month in @Space_Station history!
For the first time, @NASA_Astronauts are scheduled to launch or land each week in four different spacecraft.
4/9 – Exp. 65 launch
4/17 – Exp. 64 landing
4/22 – Crew-2 launch
4/28 – Crew-1 splashdownhttps://t.co/CJ31tGbK6P pic.twitter.com/166GnhT1S8— NASA's Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) April 2, 2021
There will be a brief overlap of the two NASA SpaceX crews and handover from Crew-1 to Crew-2 before Crew-1 departs on April 28.
Why is today's port relocation of the Crew Dragon Resilience happening? It will prepare the @Space_Station for the planned arrival of NASA's @SpaceX Crew-2 mission in just a few weeks, as well as arrival later this summer of a cargo Dragon delivering new solar arrays: pic.twitter.com/R6wjXqBp3x
— NASA (@NASA) April 5, 2021
Meanwhile the next Soyuz crew is set to launch to the ISS later this week on April 9 from Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Soyuz trio includes NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.
Three space travelers are poised to launch Friday, April 9, from Kazakhstan to the station aboard the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship live on @NASA TV. https://t.co/3igr2hahmB
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 5, 2021
Watch my commentary about the purpose and importance of the port swap in todays story at WFTV ABC 9 Orlando TV News:
Watch for Ken’s continuing live and onsite reporting from KSC about the Crew missions.
Watch Ken’s continuing reports about Artemis and NASA missions, SLS, Orion, SpaceX, Starlink, Commercial Crew and Starliner and Crew Dragon and onsite for live reporting of upcoming and recent SpaceX and ULA launches including Crew 1 & 2, Demo-2, ISS, X-37B, Solar Orbiter, Mars 2020 Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, NRO spysats and national security missions and more at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.
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