NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 docks at ISS successfully after 15 hours express flight

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 docked at the International Space Station successfully at 11:57 am IST on August 2 after making the trip in a quick 15 hours.

The hatches opened about one hour and 45 minutes after docking when the NASA Crew-11 joined the Expedition 73 crew at ISS.

"We are so happy and excited to see your smiling faces...We have a very busy handover period ahead of us. I am really keen to work with each of you," an Expedition 73 member said during Crew-11's welcome ceremony at ISS.


The mission involves astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

The number of crew aboard the space station now increases to 11 for a short time as Crew-11 joins NASA astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, and Jonny Kim, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky.

They are said to spend at least six months at the orbiting lab, swapping places with colleagues up there since March. SpaceX will bring those four back as early as Wednesday.

"NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 will depart the space station after the arrival of Crew-11 and a handover period. Ahead of Crew-10’s return, mission teams will review weather conditions at the splashdown sites off the coast of California prior to departure from station," the space agency said.

The Dragon spacecraft has been designed to dock autonomously to the space station; hence the Crew-11 and ISS team were only monitoring the movement for smooth docking procedure as it approached and docked to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.

Crew-11 mission will conduct scientific research to prepare for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit and benefit humanity on Earth.

The Crew-11 mission launched at 9:13 PM IST on August 1 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

In November, ISS will celebrate 25 years of continuous humans living and working aboard the revolving laboratory.