Back to space with a bump! US astronaut Doug Hurley bangs his head as he enters ISS moments after docking(24 Pics)
US astronaut Doug Hurley appeared to bang his head as he entered the International Space Station just moments after docking Sunday.
SpaceX delivered Hurley and Bob Behnken to the ISS on Sunday morning, following up a historic liftoff with an equally smooth docking in yet another first for Elon Musk's company.
'Congratulations on a phenomenal accomplishment and welcome to the International Space Station,' SpaceX Mission Control radioed from Hawthorne, California.
Footage shows Hurley looked to bang his head coming out the hatch to greet fellow astronauts. He was later seen with a tissue, wiping his forehead. The station's current crew greeted Behnken and Hurley at an on-schedule hatch opening at 1:02 pm Eastern Time.
It was the first time a privately built and owned spacecraft carried astronauts to the orbiting lab in its nearly 20 years. The docking occurred a little early, barely 19 hours after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Saturday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center, the nation's first astronaut launch to orbit from home soil in nearly a decade.
Hurley and Behnken were poised to take over manual control, but the SpaceX Dragon capsule pulled up to the station and docked automatically, no assistance needed.
'Soft capture,' the moment when the spacecraft makes first contact and starts latching with the target vehicle, occurred at 10.16am ET. It was followed a few minutes later by 'hard capture' when an airtight seal was completed.
'It's been a real honor to be just a small part of this nine-year endeavor since the last time a United States spaceship has docked with the International Space Station,' Hurley said.
Bob Behnken entering the International Space Station moments after docking Sunday to be greeted by fellow astronauts
US astronaut Doug Hurley appeared to bang his head as he entered the ISS moments after docking Sunday
SpaceX delivered Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the ISS on Sunday morning, following up a historic liftoff
The station's current crew greeted Behnken and Hurley at an on-schedule hatch opening at 1:02 pm Eastern Time
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy greeted the incoming crew by ringing the ship's bell aboard the space station. The docking occurred a little early, barely 19 hours after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Saturday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center, the nation's first astronaut launch to orbit from home soil in nearly a decade
The SpaceX Dragon capsule pulled up to the station and docked automatically, no assistance needed
The docking occurred just 19 hours after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Saturday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center
NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken are seen inside the capsule as it docked on Sunday
In this image taken from NASA TV video, the SpaceX Dragon crew capsule docks with the International Space Station on Sunday
The spacecraft had to perform a series of maneuvers to raise its obit to come close enough to dock at the space station.
The Dragon docked autonomously to a port on the bow section of the of the station's Harmony module.
Once the capsule was latched securely to the space station, the congratulations flowed from NASA, SpaceX and the astronauts.
'Bravo on a magnificent moment in spaceflight history,' NASA's Mission Control radioed to everyone from Houston.
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy greeted the incoming crew by ringing the ship's bell aboard the space station.
Next, the vestibule between the Dragon and the ISS will be pressurized and the hatch will then be opened, in about an hour.
Once the Dragon is sealed in place Hurley and Behnken will join the three other space station residents, NASA's Cassidy and Russia's Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, to become members of the Expedition 63 crew.
The mission, named Demo-2, marks the first time NASA has launched astronauts from US soil in nine years.
NASA considers this the opening volley in a business revolution encircling Earth and eventually stretching to the moon and Mars.
Hurley (left) and Behnken (right) walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on their way to Pad 39-A, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday
Once the Dragon is sealed in place Hurley and Behnken will join the three other space station residents, NASA's Cassidy and Russia's Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, to become members of the Expedition 63 crew
The mission, named Demo-2, marks the first time NASA has launched astronauts from US soil in nine years
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy greeted the incoming crew by ringing the ship's bell aboard the space station
The docking occurred just 19 hours after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Saturday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center, the nation's first astronaut launch to orbit from home soil in nearly a decade.
Musk - who's son X ̠ A-Xii was born earlier this month - said: 'I think this is something that should really get people right in the heart Рanyone who has a spirit of exploration.'
He added: 'I am really quite overcome with emotion – it's kind of hard to talk really. It's been 18 years working towards this goal. It's really hard to believe that it's happened.
'This is a craft made by humans, for humans, I think it's something humanity should be proud about occurring on this day.'
Musk said the mission is the 'first step on a journey that would see humans become a multi-planetary species'.
But despite the successful launch of astronauts into low-Earth orbit, Mr Musk said was was not keen to 'declare victory yet', emphasizing that the 'return can be more dangerous than the ascent'.
He added: 'We need to bring them home safely and make sure that we are doing everything we can to minimize that risk of reentry.'
Musk previously said he would accept absolute responsibility if yesterday's historic launch of his Falcon 9 rocket ended in tragedy.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence returned to Kennedy Space Center to watch the second attempt of Launch America.
'That was a beautiful sight to see and I hope you all enjoyed it,' Trump said shortly after the rocket ship lifted off for a trip to the ISS on Saturday.
Thousands jammed surrounding beaches, bridges and towns to watch as SpaceX became the world´s first private company to send astronauts into orbit, and ended a nine-year launch drought for NASA.
Elon Musk said he was 'overcome with emotion' after the astronauts were blasted into space in the Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Speaking Saturday, Musk (pictured celebrating) said the mission is the 'first step on a journey that would see humans become a multi-planetary species'
The SpaceX Falcon 9, with NASA astronauts Hurley and Behnken in the Crew Dragon capsule, lifts off from Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday
Spectators watch from a bridge in Titusville, Florida, as SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off with Hurley and Behnken in the Dragon crew capsule
There was a 50 per cent chance Falcon 9 would not take off yesterday due to ominous clouds and lightning risks, but the weather cleared with just 45 minutes left on the clock countdown
A few hours before docking, the Dragon riders reported that the capsule was performing beautifully. Just in case, they slipped back into their pressurized launch suits and helmets for the rendezvous.
The three space station residents kept cameras trained on the incoming capsule for the benefit of flight controllers at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and NASA´s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Gleaming white in the sunlight, the Dragon was easily visible from a few miles out, its nose cone open and exposing its docking hook as well as a blinking light. The capsule loomed ever larger on live NASA TV as it closed the gap.
Hurley and Behnken took over the controls and did a little piloting less than a couple hundred meters out as part of the test flight, before putting it back into automatic for the final approach. Hurley said the capsule handled 'really well, very crisp'.
SpaceX and NASA officials had held off on any celebrations until after Sunday morning's docking - and possibly not until the two astronauts are back on Earth sometime this summer.
NASA has yet to decide how long Hurley and Behnken will spend at the space station, somewhere between one and four months.
The ground crew (pictured Saturday) ran through a series of tests designed to connect into the Dragon seats, which provides cool to the astronauts and communication to the crew
The SpaceX suits have been jointly designed by a Hollywood costume designer and by Musk himself
In a show-and-tell earlier Sunday, the astronauts gave a quick tour of the Dragon's sparkling clean insides, quite spacious for a capsule.
They said the liftoff was pretty bumpy and dynamic, nothing the simulators could have mimicked.
The blue sequined dinosaur accompanying them - their young sons' toy, named Tremor - was also in good shape, Behnken assured viewers.
Tremor was going to join Earthy, a plush globe delivered to the space station on last year's test flight of a crew-less crew Dragon. Behnken said both toys would return to Earth with them at mission's end.
After reaching orbit, Falcon 9 successfully returned to Earth and was retrieved by SpaceX's autonomous spaceport drone ship 'I Still Love You.'
The ISS was previously only accessible to NASA astronauts through the purchase of seats on Russian capsules launched from Kazakhstan - but that has all changed on Saturday.
Back to space with a bump! US astronaut Doug Hurley bangs his head as he enters ISS moments after docking(24 Pics)
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June 01, 2020
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June 01, 2020
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