How to watch SpaceX’s first crew dock with the International Space Station
On Saturday afternoon, SpaceX launched its first human crew to space for NASA on the company’s new Crew Dragon spacecraft — but the mission isn’t over yet. After spending nearly a full day in orbit, the two passengers on board SpaceX’s vehicle, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, will attempt to dock with the International Space Station this morning.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon has an automatic docking system, which uses a series of sensors and cameras to help the vehicle approach the ISS and then grab on to an existing docking port. The Crew Dragon successfully tested out this technique last year when SpaceX launched a test version of the vehicle to the ISS without crew on board. But this time, the Crew Dragon will carry very precious cargo.
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While the Crew Dragon is capable of getting Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the station on its own, the two astronauts do plan to do some manual flying when they get close to the ISS. Somewhere between 220 and 170 meters out from the station, the crew will practice flying the capsule manually, using the vehicle’s touchscreen interface inside. Once they’re done, the automatic system will take over again, and the Crew Dragon will do the rest of the work to get to the station.
NASA is providing round-the-clock coverage of the Crew Dragon’s mission right now, but things kick off this morning when Behnken and Hurley do a broadcast from inside the Crew Dragon. Docking will come about a few hours later at 10:29AM ET. All of the events will take place live on NASA’s TV stream above.
On Saturday afternoon, SpaceX launched its first human crew to space for NASA on the company’s new Crew Dragon spacecraft — but the mission isn’t over yet. After spending nearly a full day in orbit, the two passengers on board SpaceX’s vehicle, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, will…
