For the second time in
less than three weeks, SpaceX has delivered an astronaut crew to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Dragon capsule flying SpaceX's
Crew-4 mission for NASA docked with the orbiting lab today (April 27) around 7:37 p.m. EDT (2337 GMT), just under 16 hours after lifting off atop a Falcon 9 rocket
The quickest-ever crewed Dragon
trip to the station. The Dragon and station were sailing 261 miles (420 kilometers) above the central Pacific Ocean as they met in orbit.
The hatches between the Dragon,
which is named Freedom, opened at about 9:15 p.m. EDT on April 28. The Crew-4 astronauts then floated aboard the ISS, which will be their home for the next six months or so.
The Crew-4 team
joined seven astronauts already on the International space station
Orbiting lab's population will
drop again soon. the astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-3 mission, which launched last November are scheduled to depart for Earth in their own Dragon on May 4.