A sleek new US-built capsule with just a test dummy aboard on Sunday docked smoothly with the International Space Station, bringing the US a big step closer to getting back in the business of launching astronauts.
The white, bullet-shaped Crew Dragon capsule, developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company under contract to NASA, closed in on the orbiting station more than 418km above the Pacific Ocean and linked up on its own, without the help of the robotic arm normally used to guide spacecraft into position.
Dragon’s arrival marked the first time in eight years that a US-made spacecraft that is capable of carrying humans has flown to the International Space Station.
Photo: AP / NASA
If this six-day test flight goes well, a Crew Dragon capsule could take two NASA astronauts to the orbiting outpost this summer.
“A new generation of space flight starts now with the arrival of (at)SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to the (at)Space_Station,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted. “Congratulations to all for this historic achievement getting us closer to flying American Astronauts on American rockets.”
Ever since NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011, the US has been hitching rides to and from the space station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft. In the meantime, NASA is paying two companies — SpaceX and Boeing — to build and operate the US’ next generation of rocket ships.
SpaceX’s 8m capsule rocketed into orbit early on Saturday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with a mannequin strapped into one of its four seats in a dashing, white-and-black, form-fitting SpaceX spacesuit.
The test dummy was nicknamed Ripley after the main character in the Alien movies. Ripley and the capsule were rigged with sensors to measure noise, vibration and stresses and monitor the life-support, propulsion and other critical systems.
As the capsule closed in on the space station, its nose cap was wide open like a dragon’s mouth to expose the docking mechanism.
The three US, Canadian and Russian crewmembers aboard the station watched the rendezvous via TV cameras. Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques called the docking “a beautiful thing to see.”
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