NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) as the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, docked to the complex at 2:28 a.m. EST. At the time of docking, the station was orbiting 260 statute miles over Newfoundland.
The docking marked the beginning of the process for the astronauts aboard the Dragon and the space station to conduct standard leak checks and pressurization between the spacecraft in preparation for hatch opening, scheduled for 4:13 a.m.
Crew-8, comprising Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Grebenkin, will join the space station’s Expedition 70 crew, which includes NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA astronaut Furukawa Satoshi, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko, and Nikolai Chub. This will temporarily increase the number of crew aboard the space station to 11 people until Crew-7 members Moghbeli, Mogensen, Satoshi, and Borisov return to Earth.
Live continuous coverage of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission is available on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website for those interested in following the mission’s progress.