The second commercial mission of NASA and SpaceX arrived in space very early this Saturday.
Four astronauts have successfully reached the International Space Station carried by the recycled Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket from the company founded by Elon Musk.
Liftoff from Earth occurred on Friday shortly before 6:00 am, Eastern Time, at a perfect time with respect to NASA's schedule.
The arrival of the Dragon capsule, which has already successfully separated from the Falcon 9 rocket used to fly out into space, arrived as planned shortly at almost 5:20 am this Saturday.
Hours before reaching their destination, while the astronauts were resting, they were told by ground control that
space debris could collide with them.
The crew prepared for a possible impact and donned protective space suits and helmets.
There were moments of tension, but finally the wreckage moved further away than expected and passed over the capsule without incident.
The
mission is led by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.
"I'm glad to be in space again," he said via radio once the capsule was safely in orbit.
The other three astronauts on the mission are: Megan McArthur, also from NASA, Thomas Pesquet, from the European Space Agency, and Akihiko Hoshide, from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Once at the International Space Station, there will be a welcoming ceremony, NASA reported.
"Our friends from the Space Station are waiting for us and we don't want to be late," French astronaut Thomas Pesquet tweeted earlier.
“They even recently installed my room and literally made my bed.
What good hosts! ”, He added.
The astronauts will spend six months on the Space Station: they will replace four astronauts who are now there and who will return next Wednesday in their own SpaceX capsule.
These are expected to be parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico near Tallahassee, Florida.
This is the first time that Elon Musk's company has launched astronauts with a capsule and rocket that they have previously flown, as it does with the station's supply tours.
The capsule in which the crew travels was used last May for the first manned mission of NASA and SpaceX.
The rocket, instead, was used for the second manned mission, in November.
In principle, the departure of the new mission was expected on Thursday, but it was decided to delay it due to bad weather at sea.
This is because SpaceX's Dragon capsule requires calm waves and winds in case an emergency landing is needed during ascent into orbit.
With information from AP.