NASA astronauts Jill Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins, along with ESA’s Samantha Cristoforetti, traveled to the International Space Station aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft to dock at the facility 260 miles above Earth on Wednesday, April 27.
NASA broadcast the independent docking, as well as the moment the new crew members entered the International Space Station through the delivery hatch and were waiting to be greeted by the current ISS crew of seven from the United States, Germany and Russia.
The Crew-4 mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida began in the early hours of Wednesday, with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelling astronauts into orbit in a stunning night launch.
The mission was the fourth flight of the first stage of the boost, and the first use of a private Crew Dragon spacecraft, which the crew dubbed “Freedom”.
With 11 people aboard the space station now, the facility will feel more crowded than usual, however some space will soon open when the four Crew 3 astronauts return to Earth in the coming days after six months in space.
The Crew-4 mission is SpaceX’s fifth flight to the International Space Station featuring professional astronauts and comes nearly two years after the first flight that saw Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken ride the Crew Dragon to the station on a test mission.
Other manned flights using the SpaceX capsule include NASA’s first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station earlier this month, and last year’s orbital spaceflight in which four private citizens took part.