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Crew Dragon inaugurates ‘new era of spaceflight’ as first commercial crew program vehicle arrives at ISS. (March 3, 2019)

Sporting a sleek, modern look and twenty-first century touchscreen displays, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station early this morning, March 3. DM-1 is the first American crew-capable spacecraft to arrive at the station since STS-135, the final space shuttle mission in 2011.

After approaching the station along the velocity bar - known as V bar for flying along the station’s flight path - Crew Dragon approached to within 150 meters before briefly pausing. This milestone, known as Waypoint 1, gave astronauts the ability to order the capsule to retreat, demonstrating controllability in the event of a docking abort.

Dragon then proceeded to Waypoint 2, 20 meters in front of station for the final go/go no decision from ground controllers. With Dragon’s docking light reflecting off the skin of the station, the capsule was illuminated during its final approach to PMA-2, the docking port at the forward part of the Harmony module. 

Soft capture between the capsule’s docking system and the International Docking Adapter occurred at 5:51am EST. Latches firmly attaching the two spacecraft occurred 13 minutes later at 6:04am.

External cameras on the International Space Station captured this view of Crew Dragon docked to PMA-2 following docking.

Crew Dragon performed the first fully-automated docking to the International Space Station. Previous Cargo Dragon spacecraft would approach to within 30 meters of the outpost before being grappled by the robotic Canadarm2 and berthed to one of the station’s berthing ports.

The last vehicle to use PMA-2 was the space shuttle Atlantis during STS-135. One of the two International Docking Adapters was installed in August, 2016 to upgrade the PMA’s hardware to allow for Commercial Crew vehicles. 

Dragon launched from the newly-upgraded LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida just 27 hours earlier. Liftoff occurred on schedule at 2:49am EST. SpaceX spent the three months in-between DM-1 and 39A’s previous launch in November 2018 to finish renovating the Apollo-era pad, installing thermal shielding on the side of the service tower and painting the structure. Modifications to bring the pad’s hardware into the 21st century were started in 2015.

“This day belongs to all of us”

Hatches between the two vehicles were opened at 8:07am EST, with Expedition 58 Flight Engineer David Saint-Jacques and Commander Oleg Konoenko entering to take air samples. Two hours later, Flight Engineer Anne McClain joined her crew mates for an official welcome ceremony for the new spacecraft.

“Today, we welcome a brand new spacecraft to space station, a great new addition to the quiver of tools we have to further space exploration,” stated Saint-Jacques.“This is the first day of a new era for the next generation of space explorers.”

Expedition 58 Flight Engineer Anne McClain introducing views to Crew Dragon occupants ‘Little Earth’ and ‘Ripley.’

McClain added “Our sincere congratulations to all Earthlings who have enabled the opening of this next chapter in space exploration. Congratulations to the teams at SpaceX and Boeing, who have been working diligently to define what this new era of commercial spaceflight will look like. And congratulations to all nations, private space firms, and individuals, who wake up every day driven by the magic of exploration. This day belongs to all of us.”

In a move reminiscent of the Apollo-era television broadcasts, the astronauts then led viewers on a tour of Crew Dragon’s interior.

“On behalf of Ripley, little Earth, myself and our crew, welcome to the Crew Dragon,” she said. “Congratulations to all of the teams who made yesterday’s launch and today’s docking a success. These amazing feats show us not how easy our mission is, but how capable we are of doing our things. Welcome to the new era in spaceflight.”

SpaceX plans for Dragon to remain at the station until Friday morning, after which it will return to Earth and splash down in the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Florida.

Click here to watch the Expedition 58 crew officially welcome Crew Dragon to the International Space Station.

Footage of Crew Dragon’s final approach and docking to the International Space Station can be seen below.

P/c: NASA/SpaceX