SpaceX’s Dragon capsule docks at International Space Station with 2 NASA astronauts inside
US astronauts who yesterday were launched into space in the first manned flight of Elon Musk’s SpaceX have now docked with International Space Station (ISS).
Doug Hurley and Bob Behken had been orbiting Earth for around 19 hours before the capsule they were in docked on Sunday. Leaks and pressure checks need to be completed before they are allowed to disembark.
It is the pair’s third mission into space, but marked a historic event, with the launch the first time that American astronauts have launched from US soil since 2011.
In the nine years since then, NASA astronauts have reached ISS by hitching lifts with Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.
The latest launch is also the first time that a private company has been involved in taking astronauts to the ISS, and the first manned mission for SpaceX, the company run by tech mogul Elon Musk.
