This Saturday, April 24, around 2:15 p.m., Thomas Pesquet and the rest of the crew of the Crew Dragon managed to reach the International Space Station (ISS).
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Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, crew member 2, is embraced by compatriot Soichi Noguchi, crew member 1, of JAXA, as he is greeted with French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, of the ESA, upon their arrival aboard the International Space Station, after docking SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, which left Earth on April 24, 2021, in a still image from the video.
NASA TV / REUTERS
Earlier, SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavor capsule, with four astronauts on board, docked with the ISS at 11:10 a.m., a new success for the company founded by Elon Musk which is consolidating its position in human spaceflight.
This screenshot from NASA's live stream shows SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft docked at the International Space Station on April 24.
- / AFP
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Images of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule docking to the ISS with Thomas Pesquet on board
This is the third time that private company SpaceX, which ended Russia's monopoly on flights to the station, has brought humans to the ISS.
This screenshot from the NASA live stream shows ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, and Japan Agency astronaut Aerospace Exploration (JAXA) Akihiko Hoshide aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft after docking to the International Space Station on April 24. - / AFP
The Endeavor began its docking maneuvers at 09:08 GMT, 424 kilometers above the Indian Ocean, a process completed about ten minutes later, with a mechanism locking by a series of 12 latches the docking between the ISS and the spacecraft, according to images broadcast live by NASA television. "
Hard Capture over, welcome to Crew-2,
" said US astronaut Shannon Walker, current ISS commander. "
Thank you Shannon, we are happy to be here, we will see you all in a few minutes,
" replied Endeavor commander, US astronaut Shane Kimbrough.
This screenshot from NASA's live stream shows SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft 10 meters from the docking access to the International Space Station, with the South Indian Ocean in the background, the April 24.
- / AFP
French Thomas Pesquet for the European Space Agency (ESA), Americans Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur and Japanese Akihiko Hoshide took off from Kennedy Space Center some 23 hours earlier on Friday.
This image shows (left to right) ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut ) Akihiko Hoshide, inside the capsule on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A, before the Crew-2 mission, April 23, 2021, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- / AFP
This performance is another success for the private company SpaceX, which has imposed itself on NASA for space transport, at a time when Boeing's Starliner capsule is accumulating delays in its test flights.
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The take-off of Thomas Pesquet towards the ISS with live commentary
With the success in May 2020 of its first manned test flight, SpaceX broke the Russian monopoly on flights to the ISS.
He gave Americans back the ability to accomplish this feat, after the “
Shuttle
”
space shuttle program ended
in 2011.
New era
This is the first time that a spacecraft has been reused for manned flight and the thruster has already been used on an unmanned test mission.
Reducing costs by recycling equipment is one of the objectives of NASA's partnerships with the private sector.
Two Crew Dragon spacecraft are now stationed side-by-side at the ISS, illustrating how SpaceX has become the primary transportation provider for the US space agency.
"
I think we are on the cusp of a new era of space exploration,
" billionaire Elon Musk, who plans to bring humans to the moon one day, said at a post-launch press conference. and Mars.
With the arrival of four astronauts, the International Space Station will be unusually populated, with eleven occupants.
The four newcomers will meet the Crew-1 team for a few days before the latter returns from its mission.
Thomas Pesquet said a few words in English and then in French after joining the Crew-1 team.
- / AFP
The mission is also a milestone for Europe, which named it "
Alpha
" after the Alpha Centauri star system, the closest star system to our solar system.
"
This is really the golden age for us in terms of operating the International Space Station,
" Frank De Winne, head of the ISS program at the European Space Agency (ESA), told AFP.
During its six-month mission, the team will be responsible for carrying out around 100 scientific experiments. They will focus on what are called "
tissue chips
" - small models of human organs made up of different types of cells and used to study the aging of the immune system, kidney function and muscle loss, among other things.
The crew will also take 1.5 million images of Earth, documenting phenomena such as artificial lighting at night, algal blooms and the bursting of Antarctic ice shelves.
Another important part of the mission was to upgrade the station's solar power system by installing new compact panels that roll out like a huge yoga mat.
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SpaceX: Thomas Pesquet says goodbye to his companion before being taken aboard the Crew Dragon
