Watch: The docking of Crew Dragon looks like a sci-fi movie
Ripley, the dummy crew of the spacecraft, successfully completed the flight.
NASA successfully launched the Crew Dragon, the first commercially-built and operated American crew spacecraft and rocket, on March 2. The spacecraft blasted off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and docked with the International Space Station.
NASA collaborated with SpaceX for the project and this mission was also the debut flight of Crew Dragon.
The test capsule carried a dummy called Ripley as crew. Ripley includes sensors to measure forces and acceleration that a person would experience on the trip. This idea of the launch with the dummy is to uncover problems before sending human astronauts.
As expected, after the launch, the Crew Dragon successfully autonomously docked with the International Space Station on Sunday, March 3 at 6:00am EST. The International Space Station lies around 400 km above the Earth's surface.
It will remain docked with space station for five days. After that it will autonomously undock with the International Space Station on Friday, March 8 at approximately 2:30 am EST.
Ripley pic.twitter.com/Z9Ztram8Ai
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2019
A new generation of space flight starts now with the arrival of @SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to the @Space_Station. Congratulations to all for this historic achievement getting us closer to flying American Astronauts on American rockets. #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/QMOuE2ecwm
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) March 3, 2019
The @SpaceX #CrewDragon is go for docking leaving its 20 meter hold point. #LaunchAmerica https://t.co/qpyi2LM11l pic.twitter.com/9pc6t6oqbF
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) March 3, 2019
The first @Commercial_Crew mission arrived at the space station today when the @SpaceX #CrewDragon completed soft capture on the Harmony module at 5:51am ET. #LaunchAmerica https://t.co/Bgcgac0O50 pic.twitter.com/KfNFpHxpGx
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) March 3, 2019
SpaceX Crew Dragon has docked with International @Space_Station pic.twitter.com/CccsItLLvJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2019