Four astronauts arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday after completing the fastest journey by a US spacecraft to the station. The crew, commanded by NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, reached the ISS 7 hours and 55 minutes after launching aboard a Dragon capsule operated by SpaceX.
The flight was the fastest journey to the ISS in SpaceX’s history and also set a record for a US spacecraft travelling to the station. The unusually short journey was made possible by the position of the ISS at the time of launch, allowing the spacecraft to take a more direct route to the orbital station.
The crew had originally been scheduled to launch three weeks earlier. The delay was caused by repairs to a leaking fuel system on the Dragon capsule. Dense cloud cover then posed a further threat to Thursday’s launch, but the spacecraft eventually departed and completed its journey to the station.
Watkins is joined on the mission by NASA astronaut Luke Delaney, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Russian cosmonaut Sergej Teterjatnikow. The four are scheduled to remain aboard the ISS for six months, during which they will take over from the station’s current Crew 12.
That crew includes NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, US astronaut Jack Hathaway, Russian cosmonaut Andrej Fedjajew and French astronaut Sophie Adenot. They have been in space since February, with their return to Earth scheduled for no earlier than next week.
The mission marks Watkins’ second stay aboard the ISS. A geologist, she became the first Black woman to lead a crew into Earth orbit with the flight.
For Kutryk, the six-month mission will coincide with an important family event on Earth. His wife is expected to give birth to their third child at the end of November, while he remains aboard the space station.
The four astronauts will now begin their planned six-month period in orbit following the record-setting flight to the ISS.
