SpaceX - COTS C-1 Mission patch.
March 3, 2019
After making 18 orbits of Earth since its launch early Saturday morning, the Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully attached to the International Space Station’s Harmony module forward port via “soft capture” at 5:51 a.m. EST while the station was traveling more than 250 miles over the Pacific Ocean, just north of New Zealand.
As the spacecraft approached the space station, it demonstrated its automated control and maneuvering capabilities by arriving in place at about 492 feet (150 meters) away from the orbital laboratory then reversing course and backing away from the station to 590 feet (180 meters) before the final docking sequence from about 65 feet (20 meters) away.
Image above: The SpaceX Crew Dragon is pictured about 20 meters away from the International Space Station’s Harmony module. Image Credit: NASA.
The Crew Dragon used the station’s new international docking adapter for the first time since astronauts installed it during a spacewalk in August 2016, following its delivery to the station in the trunk of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on its ninth commercial resupply services mission.
For the Demo-1 mission, Crew Dragon is delivering more than 400 pounds of crew supplies and equipment to the space station. A lifelike test device named Ripley also is aboard the spacecraft, outfitted with sensors to provide data about potential effects on humans traveling in Crew Dragon.
Crew Dragon docking
The Crew Dragon is designed to stay docked to station for up to 210 days, although the spacecraft used for this flight test will remain docked to the space station only five days, departing Friday, March 8.
Opening of the Crew Dragon hatch will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Related articles:
NASA, SpaceX Launch First Flight Test of Space System Designed for Crew
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/03/nasa-spacex-launch-first-flight-test-of.html
Spacewalk concludes after commercial crew port installation
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2016/08/spacewalk-concludes-after-commercial.html
Related links:
International docking adapter: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/meet-the-international-docking-adapter
Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew program at: https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
Commercial Space: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/index.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
NASA Television: https://www.nasa.gov/live/
SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/
Image (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/NASA TV/SciNews.
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