SpaceX Crew-3 Astronauts Arrive To The Space Station To Initiate Their Long Duration Mission

SpaceX Crew-3 NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, Tom Marshburn, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer, arrived to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday evening to initiate their long-duration mission. They lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from historic Launch Pad-39A at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, November 10 at 9:03 p.m. EST. It is the first time Chari, Barron, and Maurer travel to space; Marshburn is a three-time space flyer. 

Their journey to the orbiting outpost lasted approximately 22-hours. The Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft docked to ISS Harmony module at 6:32 p.m. EST on November 11, while flying 260 miles (418-kilometers) above the eastern Caribbean Sea. They arrived 38-minutes ahead of schedule. "Docking complete, welcome to the International Space Station," SpaceX mission controllers radioed to the crew in outer space. "Endurance copies, and happy to be here at the ISS," Marshburn responded.  

Dragon and the Crew-3 astronauts approaching the @space_station pic.twitter.com/CG5FUmbgIa

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 11, 2021  

Suit leak check complete. Dragon and the Crew-3 astronauts continue to proceed to the @space_station pic.twitter.com/DIRQmuVzSX

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 11, 2021 

During their voyage to the Space Station, the astronauts gave a brief tour of Dragon’s interior, as well as an incredible view of our planet out of the spacecraft’s windows, you can watch it in the 7-minute video linked in the Tweet below. Marshburn shared that all of his rookie crewmembers were adjusting to the space environment well and even had multiple meals, which can be hard to hold down food for first-time space flyers. -"...We haven't had any disasters," Marshburn said, in reference to the crew not having any digestive issues. The rookie astronauts had fun inside the capsule’s cabin experiencing microgravity for the first time. Barron introduced Crew-3's zero-gravity indicator, a sparkly plush toy turtle named 'peacock' in German language. Every SpaceX mission features a plush toy designed to indicate when the astronauts are in microgravity and also to inspire kids who watch the spaceflight broadcast. Chari jokingly said that flying Dragon was just like the simulators on Earth but that he could scratch his back easier in outer space, then he floated out of his seat and pretended to scratch his back with the screen's edges. Then he showed off Dragon's touchscreen cockpit displays and a distant view of the moon out of the capsule's hatch.

The four @SpaceX #Crew3 astronauts show what it is like orbiting Earth inside the #CrewDragon Endurance in this video tour from space. https://t.co/yuOTrYN8CV pic.twitter.com/KHxnvZcxD6

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) November 11, 2021

Upon docking to the Space Station and performing leak checks, Maurer opened Endurance's hatch at 8:25 p.m. EST and were welcomed by Expedition 66 crewmates at 9 p.m. They were welcomed by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, Expedition 66 Commander Anton Shkaplerov and Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov of Russia during a ceremony where Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for Space Operations, and Josef Aschbacher, ESA director-general participated from Earth. Crew-3 will remain on board ISS conducting science research until April 2022.  

Crew-3 checks in after catching sight of the @space_station ahead of docking, now targeted for 6:33 p.m. EST pic.twitter.com/Po532uBhc4

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 11, 2021

Four new astronauts through the hatch and seven crewmembers total on the @Space_Station!

After almost exactly a day from launch, #Crew3 is aboard the orbiting laboratory. pic.twitter.com/QJoBUsJcsj

— NASA (@NASA) November 12, 2021

All Images Source: NASA