NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 Entered International Space Station After Docking

Space.com

Commander Matthew Dominick, pilot Michael Barratt, mission specialists Jeanette Epps and Aleksandr Grebenkin arrived at the International Space Station after docking.  Credit: NASA

Transcript

00:00Soft capture confirmed.

00:17And contact confirmed.

00:19Dragon made contact with the International Space Station at 1128 p.m. Pacific while flying

00:24central over the North Atlantic Ocean just east of Newfoundland.

00:33And now you are seeing a live view inside the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft.

00:39You can see the SpaceX suits that the Crew-8 crew members were wearing for the docking

00:46operations as well as for launch on Sunday, March 3.

00:52Crew-8 is currently standing by and they will be ingressing into the International

00:57Space Station just a short time from now.

01:05And there we can see Crew-8 being joyfully welcomed aboard the International Space Station.

01:21First aboard was NASA astronaut Matthew Dominic, followed behind him NASA astronaut Michael

01:27Barrett and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps.

01:31And pulling up the end we have Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grubinken.

01:50The Crew-8 astronauts now officially a part of Expedition 70 and the other Expedition

01:5770 crew members giving them hugs and handshakes as they make their way onto the International

02:03Space Station which will be their home for the next six months as they conduct important

02:08science and research.

02:21Station, this is Houston on Space to Ground 2.

02:23Are you ready for the event?

02:34All right, let's roll.

02:38All right, stand by, stand by.

02:50Hey, Andy, sorry about that.

02:52Can you give us a little count on the microphone?

02:54We weren't getting the audio down here.

03:14Check.

03:15OK, just another quick count.

03:241, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

03:38All right, 11, 12, 13, we're ready to roll.

03:45Excellent.

03:46A big warm welcome to Crew-8 from all of us up here.

03:52Wouldn't you know it after having made fun of Crew-8 for being or for launching late,

03:56they arrive early to the Space Station and have us scrambling this morning.

04:01But it's absolutely fantastic to see their smiling faces.

04:06Welcome to space, Matt, Jeanette and Alex.

04:11And welcome back to space to Mike.

04:15This is also for Crew-7 a slightly bittersweet moment, because with their arrival,

04:20it also starts the countdown to our own departure and return to Earth in about a week's time.

04:27But it's great to see Crew-8.

04:29Welcome.

04:30You guys are going to have a fantastic mission, I'm sure of it.

04:34And we look forward to spending the next week in space with you.

04:37And for Laurel, Alec and Nikolai, there you are.

04:45A few more weeks.

04:47But welcome to you.

04:48And I'll pass the mic to you, Matt.

04:53Thank you so much.

04:54We are, of course, super excited to be here.

04:56And after we saw you call us out yesterday, we phoned a few friends to expedite things

05:00to kind of throw you off guard on purpose.

05:03Or so we hope or wished.

05:04Anyway, we're so excited to be here.

05:06Big thank you to everyone who helped put this together.

05:09Such a giant team around the world.

05:11And we're excited to be on board and ready to take over the watch.

05:15Over to you, Mike.

05:17Well, first thing, it's just great to be back.

05:19There's such a sense of familiarity and homeness to the station.

05:23And I can't wait to get back to work.

05:25But just a big shout out to all the folks who got us up here to NASA.

05:28Our friends at SpaceX for building a great little spaceship and a little taste of the

05:32flexibility this morning that we'll be expecting over the next six months.

05:36I know that our flight's going to go by in a blink of an eye and really anxious to start.

05:40Thanks for the very warm welcome from Crew 7.

05:45I second everything that Matt and Mike has said.

05:49And I just want to thank my family as well for being patient with me.

05:53And I made it here.

06:02Well, once again, welcome to the National Space Station.

06:21This is an incredible place.

06:23You will have a great time up here, just like we did.

06:27We are doing so much exciting science at the moment.

06:30And we look forward to introducing you to all of it.

06:33So once again, welcome, Crew 8.

06:40All right.

06:41Thanks, station.

06:42For all of that, I can tell you on behalf of us that are left here on the planet,

06:45we are incredibly proud to be part of this.

06:48And we're all smiling down here.

06:50All right, station.

06:51We are now resuming operational communications.

07:01And there you have it.

07:10Crew 8 is officially on board the International Space Station and welcomed by the Expedition

07:1470 crew, bringing the current space station population to 11 for the next few days.

07:20Crew 8 began their journey to the orbiting laboratory following a liftoff at 9.53 p.m.

07:25Central, 10.53 p.m.

07:27Eastern on Sunday, March 3rd from launch pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida

07:32atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

07:35Following orbital insertion, the Dragon vehicle carrying Crew 8 completed a series of automatic

07:39maneuvers to guide the spacecraft to the forward-facing port of the station's Harmony module.

07:44Dragon Endeavour and its four-person crew of NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael

07:49Barrett and Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grubinken docked to the International

07:54Space Station at 1.28 a.m.

07:55Central, 2.28 a.m.

07:57Eastern on Tuesday, March 5th as the space station and Dragon were traveling over the

08:01North Atlantic just east of Newfoundland.

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