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From L to R: NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, and Mike Hopkins join Japanese Space Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi on the ride up to Space Station. Image: NASA
The first crew rotation at International Space Station to employ a SpaceX Dragon Crew Capsule launches November 14 at 7:49pm ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The four will join the Expedition 64 crew already aboard ISS, forming Expedition 64/65.
The new crew module built by SpaceX, carries four astronauts in comfort unlike the cramped condition aboard the Russian Soyuz capsule which all astronauts used to reach space station since the US Space Shuttle program shut down in 2011. Crew Dragon restores American capability to loft astronauts into orbit without reliance on Russian launch systems. They will dock at ISS at 4:20am on Sunday.
The Dragon Crew capsule had its final test drive, over the summer when NASA astronauts Bob Behnke and Doug Hurley rode up to Space Station as the last test crew for the new capsule.
You can watch the launch and docking live starting at 3;30pm at NASA.gov. You can learn all about the Crew Dragon capsule and practice the Space Station docking routine on SpaceX’s website.
Source: NASA
About the author
Derrick Pitts, Hon.D
For many Philadelphians, Derrick Pitts is The Franklin Institute. Since 1978, Derrick has been teaching us to look up—and to wonder about what we see up there.