For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The quartet of multinational astronauts launched early Friday morning (April 23) on the NASA SpaceX Crew 2 mission from Florida’s Space Coast successfully docked to the International Space Station (ISS) some 23 hours later early Saturday morning (April 24) – flying inside the first ever recycled SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and soon floated inside smiling broadly for a stunning photo op moments later to make a ‘Happy Eleven’ resident crew.
This briefly enlarged crew of 11 marks more humans living and working on board the ISS in nearly a decade – since the retirement of NASA’s Space Shuttles in July 2011
“We are happy eleven on #ISS! Welcome back to home away from home for 6 months!!!!!! #crew1 #crew2 #soyuzms18,” tweeted JAXA astronaut and Expedition 65 and Crew 1 station crew member Soichi Noguchi with an amazing photo of all eleven station residents from the three crews of astronauts and cosmonauts now onboard from a trio of human space capsules; Crew-1, Crew-2 and Soyuz MS-18 and four space agencies; NASA, ESA, JAXA and Roscosmos..
We are happy eleven on #ISS! Welcome back to home away from home for 6 months!!!!!! #crew1 #crew2 #soyuzms18 pic.twitter.com/wcpUzc5DLo
— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口 聡一（公式） (@Astro_Soichi) April 24, 2021
The 1st time recycled Crew Dragon Endeavour arrived at the ISS Saturday morning after a carefully choreographed series of thruster firings and docked automatically to the massive orbiting complex at the forward-facing port on the Harmony node at 5:08 a.m. EDT (0908 GMT) while the spacecraft were flying 264 miles (422 km) above the Indian Ocean.
The four @SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts docked the #CrewDragon Endeavour to the station today at 5:08am ET one day after launch. #LaunchAmerica | https://t.co/gmlUpBr8TX pic.twitter.com/sHaDPJJZw1
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 24, 2021
The all veteran Crew-2 astronaut team comprises NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
Following Crew Dragon’s link up to the Harmony module, the astronauts aboard the Endeavour and the space station conducted standard leak checks and pressurization between the Dragon and the station.
After all was well they opened the hatch at 7:15 a.m EDT and floated thorough one by one.
Each crew member was greeted with big smile, boisterous bear hugs and cheers and endless happy smiles!
Watch the joyous adventure in this NASA TV video of the crew-2 astronauts floating through the hatch one by one
https://twitter.com/Commercial_Crew/status/1385924032332279808
“We have an 11-person scrum here, with four countries represented,” Hoshide said during additional remarks during the Crew-2 welcome ceremony Saturday.
“It is awesome to see the 11 of you on station,” said Steve Jurczyk, NASA acting administrator, during the welcome ceremony. “I’m really excited this for this new era for ISS.”
https://twitter.com/i/events/1385978308106416136
The Crew 2 mission began with the flawless liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon Endeavor spaceship right on time at 5:49 a.m. EDT Friday, April 23, from seaside Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida and produced spectacular sky effects like the ‘jelly fish’ and ‘space angels’ phenomena as the rocket rose into daylight and wowed big crowds ringing the space coast viewing sights gathered from across the globe.
This first ever recycled SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 booster used for a human spaceflight mission hurled the multinational NASA, ESA and JAXA veteran astronaut quartet to the International Space Station (ISS) for a six month science mission in a stunning predawn launch from the Florida Space Coast Friday morning.
Enjoy our Up Close rocket launch and prelaunch gallery of photos from pad 39A taken by Ken Kremer for Space UpClose. Check back as the gallery grows!
A welcoming ceremony awaited the four @SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts today after they boarded the station and joined the Exp 65 crew for a six-month space science mission. ⚡️ https://t.co/JrGABA2lwy
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 24, 2021
This is a mission of many firsts – including the first time two SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, namely Endeavour from Crew-2 and Resilience from Crew-1, are simultaneously to the ISS.
Two @SpaceX #CrewDragon vehicles are docked to the station for the first time. It's also the second visit for Crew-2 Endeavour. More… https://t.co/c6G2Zu14dW pic.twitter.com/ZrC0pZEG9R
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 24, 2021
Endeavour and Resilience and attached perpendicular to one another at the Harmony module at the forward and space facing (Zenith) ports respectively.
Kimbrough, McArthur, Hoshide, and Pesquet join the current 7 ISS residents including 4 from Crew-1 namely Shannon Walker, Michael Hopkins, and Victor Glover as well as Soichi Noguchi of JAXA and 3 from the recently arrived Soyuz MS-18 launch namely Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as Mark Vande Hei of NASA.
SOFT CAPTURE CONFIRMED 🐉 @SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the @Space_Station with astronauts @astro_kimbrough, @Astro_Megan, @Aki_Hoshide and @Thom_astro on board at 5:08 a.m. ET.
Tune in: https://t.co/YeWrpz41EN pic.twitter.com/1uHgiNZpR5
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) April 24, 2021
After a brief four day handover the NASA SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts Walker, Hopkins, Glover, and Noguchi are scheduled to depart and return to Earth on April 28 in Crew Dragon Resilience.
The station will host 11 crewmates until April 28 when four @SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts return to Earth after a 162-day space research mission. https://t.co/lYYekoyWec
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 24, 2021
The four new @SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts joined the Exp 65 crew today bringing the station population to 11. More… https://t.co/HxB7Zd5Ht5 pic.twitter.com/HltwdtP7Mv
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 24, 2021
Overall Crew-2 is the 3rd Crew Dragon mission to fly astronauts to space and the ISS in the last eleven months – a remarkable achievement after no human missions were flown from US soil in 9 years after NASA’s space shuttles retired in July 2011.
This ESA graphic explains the rendezvous and docking of Crew Dragon to ISS
After yesterday's #Crew2 launch, today is docking day! The crew of Dragon Endeavour are waking up and preparing for the approach to @Space_Station.
🛰🛰
Docking is planned for 11:10 CEST, here are the steps in brief. #MissionAlpha #infographic https://t.co/fd96nhWDJT pic.twitter.com/PTypNYZWCL— Human Spaceflight (@esaspaceflight) April 24, 2021
The quartet of astronauts is also the first crew to ride to space aboard a previously-flown Falcon 9 booster and simultaneously a reused Dragon spacecraft.
Both vehicles are manufactured by SpaceX and have been carefully refurbished for this mission to ensure safety and reliability.
Crew-2 flew aboard the Crew Dragon “Endeavour” spacecraft — the same spaceship flown by veteran NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on the Demo-2 mission to the space station last year in May 2020 which was also the first flight of US astronauts from US soil in nearly a decade.
The Falcon 9 1st stage B1061.2 is recycled from the Crew-1 mission.
Crew Dragon was developed by SpaceX under a commercial crew program (CCP) contract to NASA
The Crew-2 mission is the second of six crewed missions NASA and SpaceX will fly as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Crew-2 is also a mission of many firsts outlined by NASA:
- First commercial crew mission to fly two international partners;
- First commercial crew handover between astronauts on the space station as Crew-1 and Crew-2 astronauts will spend about five days together on station before Crew-1 returns to Earth;
- First reuse of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket on a crew mission –Crew Dragon Endeavour flew the historic Demo-2 mission and the Falcon 9 flew astronauts on the Crew-1 mission; and,
- First time two commercial crew spacecraft will be docked to station at the same time.
Crew-2 will remain aboard until fall 2021 and overlap with SpaceX Crew-3 launching in Fall 2021 – read our earlier Crew-3 story.
Watch my live post launch interview on The Donlan Report on News Nation Cable News about the significance of the NASA SpaceX Crew 2 launch to ISS launch, Commercial Space, Mars rover/helicopter, the future of space travel and Elon Musk’s plan to build a city on Mars.
https://twitter.com/TheDonlonReport/status/1385993184078176263
My live post launch/docking interview on TRT World Apr 24:
Watch my live interview on ‘Stay Curious’ show about NASA SpaceX Crew 2 mission and NASA Ingenuity Helicopter 1st flight – on April 29 at the American Space Museum Titusville, FL
https://www.facebook.com/175507880819/videos/127636489296749
Ken is onsite at KSC for the Crew-2 mission launch on NET April 23.
Watch Ken’s continuing reports about ISS, Artemis and NASA missions, 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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