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.

00:16And contact confirm.

00:18Dragon made contact with the international space station at 11.

00:23Pacific while flying central over the North Atlantic Ocean just east of

00:28Newfoundland.

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

00:38You can see the SpaceX suits that the Crew-8 crew members were wearing for the

00:45docking operations as well as for launch on Sunday, March 3rd.

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

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

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

01:10International Space Station.

01:14First aboard was NASA astronaut Matthew Dominic. Followed behind him NASA

01:26astronaut Michael Barrett and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps. And pulling up

01:31the end we have Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grabenkin.

01:44The Crew-8 astronauts now officially a part of Expedition 70 and the other

01:57Expedition 70 crew members giving them hugs and handshakes as they make their

02:02way onto the International Space Station which will be their home for the next

02:06six months as they conduct important science and research.

02:14Space Station, this is Houston on Space to Ground 2. Are you ready for the event?

02:34All right, let's roll.

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

02:44All right, stand by, stand by.

02:50Sorry about that. Can you give us a little count on the microphone? We

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

03:14Check. Okay, just another quick count. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

03:37All right, 11, 12, 13, we're ready to roll.

03:45Excellent. A big warm welcome to Crew-8 from all of us up here. Wouldn't you know

03:52it, after having made fun of Crew-8 for being or for launching late, they arrive

03:57early to the Space Station and have us scrambling this morning. But it's

04:01absolutely fantastic to see their smiling faces. Welcome to space, Matt,

04:08Jeanette and Alex, and welcome back to space to Mike. This is also for Crew-7 a

04:17slightly bittersweet moment because with their arrival it also starts the

04:21countdown to our own departure and return to Earth in about a week's time.

04:27But it's great to see Crew-8. Welcome. You guys are gonna have a fantastic

04:31mission, I'm sure of it, and we look forward to spending the next week in

04:36space with you and for Laurel, Alec and Nikolai, there you are, a few more weeks.

04:46But welcome to you and I'll pass the mic to you, Matt.

04:52Thank you so much. We are of course super excited to be here and after we saw you

04:57call us out yesterday, we phoned a few friends to expedite things to kind of

05:01throw you off guard on purpose, or so we hope or wished. Anyway, we're so excited

05:05to be here. A big thank you to everyone who helped put this together, such a

05:09giant team around the world, and we're excited to be on board and ready to take

05:14over the watch. Over to you, Mike. Well, first thing, it's just great to be back.

05:19There's such a sense of familiarity and homeness to the station and I can't wait

05:24to get back to work, but just a big shout out to all the folks who got us up here

05:27to NASA, our friends at SpaceX for building a great little spaceship and a

05:31little taste of the flexibility this morning that we'll be expecting over the

05:35next six months. I know that our flight's gonna go by in a blink of an eye and

05:38really anxious to start. Thanks for the very warm welcome from Crew 7.

05:44I second everything that Matt and Mike has said and I just want to thank my

05:50family as well for being patient with me and I made it here.

06:01Well, once again, welcome to the

06:20National Space Station. This is an incredible place. You will have a great

06:25time up here just like we did. We are doing so much exciting science at the

06:30moment and we look forward to introducing you to all of it. So, once

06:33again, welcome Crew 8.

06:39All right, thanks station. For all of that, I can tell you on behalf of us that are

06:44left here on the planet, we are incredibly proud to be part of this and

06:48we're all smiling down here. All right, station, we are now resuming operational

06:53communications.

07:01And there you have it. Crew 8 is officially on board the International

07:12Space Station and welcomed by the Expedition 70 crew, bringing the current

07:16space station population to 11 for the next few days. Crew 8 began their

07:21journey to the orbiting laboratory following a liftoff at 9 53 p.m.

07:25Central, 10 53 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, March 3rd from launch pad 39A at

07:30NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Following orbital

07:36insertion, 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

07:43Harmony module. Dragon Endeavour and its four-person crew of NASA astronauts

07:47Matthew Dominic, Michael Barrett and Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut

07:51Alexander Gerbinkin docked to the International Space Station at 1 28 a.m.

07:55Central, 2 28 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday, March 5th as the space station and

08:00Dragon were traveling over the North Atlantic just east of Newfoundland.

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