The four members of SpaceX Crew 6 safely boarded the International Space Station (ISS) after a journey that lasted approximately 27 hours.
NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:34 a.m. ET Thursday and reached the orbital outpost about 24 hours later.
A minor software glitch on the Crew Dragon Endeavor spacecraft briefly delayed the docking procedure, which finally took place at 1:40 a.m. ET Friday morning.
After final preparations, at around 3:40 am ET, Crew-6 members entered the space station, where they were greeted by the seven-person crew already aboard the facility.
NASA shared a short video showing the newcomers entering the station as it orbited Earth at an altitude of about 260 miles.
Bowen, Hoburg, Al Neyadi and Fedyaey will spend the next six months living and working aboard the ISS, working on a host of scientific experiments in microgravity conditions while performing other tasks, such as spacewalking to maintain and improve the station.
This is the first space mission for all the crewmates except Bowen, who is now on his fourth trip to orbit. Al Neyadi is the second Emirati astronaut to reach orbit and the first to embark on a long-duration mission.
The arrival of Crew 6 makes the station a bit busier than usual, as there will be eleven crew members on board. That won’t last long, though, as all four members of Crew-5 are scheduled to depart the station in about five days after a six-month stay.
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