SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience successfully docks with the ISS
SpaceX and NASA successfully launched the first commercial crew mission on Sunday, November 15, at 7:27 PM. At that time, the Falcon 9 rocket headed into orbit with the Crew Dragon and for astronauts aboard. NASA has announced that the Groom Dragon Resilience successfully docked with the ISS at 11:01 PM EST Monday.
With the successful docking of the Resilience, NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi successfully made the first commercial cruise trip to the ISS. Hatches between the Resilience capsule and the space station were set to be open about 1:10 AM on Tuesday, November 17. The crew aboard the Resilience will join Expedition 64 catfight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA and Cmdr. Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos.
NASA has confirmed that NASA TV will provide live coverage of the welcoming ceremony with NASA Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Kathy Lueders joining in greeting the crew from mission control. JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa will be joining from the Tsukuba Space Center in Japan. The welcoming ceremony should be at about 1:40 AM on Tuesday.
At approximately 2 AM, NASA will host a news conference following the welcoming ceremony with additional participants. On Thursday, November 19, four astronauts, who are starting the first group rotation mission on the space station, will join Rubins to answer questions in a news conference from the space station to air at 9:55 AM on NASA television.
"All for one, Crew-1 for all." – @Astro_Soichi, from the @SpaceX Crew Dragon after docking to the @Space_Station. "Welcome to the ISS. We can't wait to have you on board." – Kate Rubins of @NASA_Astronauts. pic.twitter.com/tZJNtZZ92Y
— NASA (@NASA) November 17, 2020
During that conference, the crew will discuss the upcoming expedition, which increases the regular space station crew size from 6 to 7 astronauts increasing the crew time available for research. The crew will also talk about the historic launch, rendezvous, and docking. The successful launch of Resilience marks the first of six certified crew missions NASA and SpaceX will fly.