On May 2, the astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-8 mission successfully completed a maneuver to move their Dragon capsule, named Endeavour, to a different port at the International Space Station (ISS). The relocation was necessary to make way for Boeing’s Starliner capsule, scheduled to launch on its first-ever crewed mission on May 6.
The Dragon capsule undocked from the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module and autonomously docked with Harmony’s space-facing port. However, the operation was delayed by an hour due to communication issues with the capsule. This maneuver opened up Harmony’s forward-facing port for Boeing’s upcoming mission.
Boeing’s Starliner mission, known as Crew Flight Test, will send NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS for a roughly 10-day stay. Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Crew-8 mission, which launched on March 3, is the eighth operational crewed mission that SpaceX has flown to the ISS for NASA.
The four crewmates of Crew-8, NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeannette Epps, along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, will live aboard the station for six months. As space exploration continues to advance, these missions play a crucial role in the ongoing research and collaboration happening at the ISS. Stay tuned for more updates on these historic space journeys.
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