SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule completes docking at International Space Station

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has heralded a new era of spaceflight, becoming the first private enterprise to launch humans into orbit on the powerful Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday. A day later, the Crew Dragon capsule, piloted by two Nasa astronauts, docked successfully at the International Space Station.  

The Crew Dragon capsule, carrying NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken, docks at the International Space Station 31 May 2020. © Nasa / Screenshot

After a 19-hour trip, the newly designed Crew Dragon capsule docked on the ISS a few minutes ahead of schedule at 14:16 GMT on Sunday – just minutes before orbital sunset – with Nasa Television providing rolling live coverage of the entire trip.

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley had to wait a few more hours for tests to be carried out to ensure that the seals between the spacecraft and the space station were airtight.

Docking confirmed – Crew Dragon has arrived at the @space_station! pic.twitter.com/KiKBpZ8R2H

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 31, 2020

Thousands of spectators gathered at Florida’s Brewer Bridge to watch the rocket blast off from Cape Canaveral’s Kennedy Space Centre on Saturday afternoon.

The launch ends a nine-year gap in human spaceflight from American soil. US astronauts have been using Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to travel to the ISS since Nasa’s final space shuttle flight – piloted by Hurley – in 2011.

Welcome to a new era of human spaceflight 🚀👨🏼‍🚀

In case you missed it: @AstroBehnken & @Astro_Doug left Earth at 3:22pm ET on our #LaunchAmerica mission with @SpaceX. Tune in to NASA TV for continuous coverage as the crew travels to the @Space_Station: https://t.co/mzKW5uV4hS pic.twitter.com/TC5b6qre6F

— NASA (@NASA) May 31, 2020

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On Wednesday the Falcon 9's first launch attempt was scrubbed with fewer than 17 minutes remaining on the countdown clock amid electrical storms and a tornado warning.

SpaceX and Nasa, who have been in a public-private partnership since 2010, will learn much from this trip – with the astronauts expected to take the spacecraft for a test drive before it arrives at the ISS to see how it responds to manual commands.