SpaceX's Crew-8 Successfully Docks at International Space Station for Six-Month Mission

Space News ,NASA :-  In the early hours of Tuesday morning (March 5), SpaceX's Crew-8 astronaut mission achieved a successful rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS). The mission's Dragon capsule, named Endeavour, flawlessly docked with the ISS at 2:28 a.m. EST (0728 GMT) while soaring above the central North Atlantic, just east of Newfoundland.

Ground control humorously welcomed the Crew Dragon Endeavour, stating, "We would also like to note that you can't be 'crew late' when you arrive 30 minutes early," shortly after the docking occurred.

In response, Crew-7 commander Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA radioed a playful message to Crew-8 from the ISS, saying, "Dragon, from those of us onboard, welcome to the International Space Station. We disagree, you can still be crew late. Mike welcome back, we think a few things have changed since you left, Matt, Jeanette, Alexander, you're absolutely going to love it here."

Crew-8, comprising NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeannette Epps, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, is set for a six-month stay aboard the ISS. The team launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday (March 3) at 10:53 p.m. EST (0353 GMT on March 4).

Commander Dominick, pilot Barratt, and mission specialists Epps and Grebenkin are all spaceflight rookies, except for Barratt, who already has two orbital missions under his belt.

The quartet is poised to relieve the four astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-7 mission, who arrived at the ISS in August 2023 and are scheduled to return to Earth no earlier than March 11.

As the name suggests, Crew-8 marks the eighth operational astronaut mission conducted by SpaceX for NASA. The space agency has also signed a commercial-crew deal with aerospace giant Boeing, which plans to launch astronauts on its new Starliner capsule next month, as part of a trial mission named Crew Flight Test.