On Thursday, November 11 at 6:32 p.m. EST, 23:32 UTC, SpaceX’s Dragon autonomously docked with the International Space Station. Falcon 9 launched the spacecraft to orbit from historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, November 10 at 9:03 p.m. EST.
After an approximate six-month stay, Dragon and the Crew-3 astronauts will depart the orbiting laboratory no earlier than late April 2022 for return to Earth and splash down off the coast of Florida.
You can rewatch the entire Crew-3 flight to the International Space Station above.
To The space station
On its flight to the International Space Station, Dragon executed a series of burns that positioned the vehicle progressively closer to the station before it performed final docking maneuvers, followed by pressurization of the vestibule, hatch opening, and crew ingress.
Mission
To The space station
On its flight to the International Space Station, Dragon executed a series of burns that positioned the vehicle progressively closer to the station before it performed final docking maneuvers, followed by pressurization of the vestibule, hatch opening, and crew ingress.
Falcon 9’s first stage lofts Dragon to orbit. Falcon 9’s first and second stage separate. Second stage accelerates Dragon to orbital velocity.
Dragon separates from Falcon 9’s second stage and performs initial orbit activation and checkouts of propulsion, life support, and thermal control systems.
Dragon performs delta-velocity orbit raising maneuvers to catch up with the International Space Station.
Dragon establishes a communication link with the International Space Station and performs its final orbit raising delta-velocity burn.
Dragon establishes relative navigation to the International Space Station and arrives along the docking axis, initiating an autonomous approach.
Dragon performs final approach and docks with the International Space Station, followed by pressurization, hatch open, and crew ingress.