The Crew-7 arrives to the International Space Station

Tuesday - August 29 2023, 05:51 UTC - 1 year ago

The Crew-7, which consists of one astronaut from NASA, ESA, JAXA, and Roscosmos, successfully arrived at the International Space Station as the SpaceX Dragon, named Endurance, and docked to the complex. This increases the number of crew aboard the space station to 11 people for a short time until Crew-6 returns to Earth in a few days.

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov arrived at the International Space Station as the SpaceX Dragon, named Endurance, docked to the complex at 9:16 a.m. EDT on Sunday while the station was 261 statute miles over Queensland, Australia. Through the morning and early afternoon, the four astronauts settled into their seats in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft as it closed in on the space station.

Following Dragon’s link up to the Harmony module, the astronauts aboard the Dragon and the space station began conducting standard leak checks and pressurization between the spacecraft in preparation for hatch opening. Although the hatch was originally scheduled to open at 10 a.m. EDT, additional time was needed for leak checks. At 10:58 a.m. EDT, the Dragon spacecraft hatch was opened. This was shortly after the station crew opened the hatch between the space station and the pressurized mating adapter.

Crew-7 joins the Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, Woody Hoburg, and Frank Rubio, as well as UAE astronaut (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin, and Andrey Fedyaev. This increases the number of crew aboard the space station to 11 people. This will only last for a short time until Crew-6 members Bowen, Hoburg, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev return to Earth in a few days.

NASA TV will continue live coverage through the welcoming ceremony at approximately 11:30 a.m. EDT, when Flight Engineer Borisov will give a brief speech and the crew will answer questions from three media outlets.