00:00Soft capture confirmed.
00:16And contact confirmed.
00:19Dragon made contact with the International Space Station at 11.28 p.m. Pacific
00:23while flying central over the North Atlantic Ocean just east of Newfoundland.
00:30And now you are seeing a live view inside the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft.
00:39You can see the SpaceX suits that the Kru-8 crewmembers were wearing for the docking operations
00:47as well as for launch on Sunday, March 3rd.
00:52Kru-8 is currently standing by and they will be ingressing into the International Space Station
00:58just a short time from now.
01:04And there we can see Kru-8 being joyfully welcomed aboard the International Space Station.
01:12The first aboard was NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick, followed behind him NASA astronaut Michael
01:27Barrett and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps.
01:30And pulling up the end we have Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grubinkin.
01:35The Kru-8 astronauts now officially a part of Expedition 70 and the other Expedition 70 crewmembers giving them hugs
01:44and handshakes as they make their way onto the International Space Station which will be their home for the next six months as they conduct important science and research.
02:05for the next six months as they conduct important science and research.
02:21Spatian, this is Houston on Space to Ground 2. Are you ready for the event?
02:24Spatian, this is Houston on Space to Ground 2. Are you ready for the event?
02:25Spatian, this is Houston on Space to Ground 2. Are you ready for the event?
02:27Spatian, this is Houston on Space to Ground 2. Are you ready for the event?
02:35Alright, let's roll.
02:38Alright, stand-by. Stand-by.
02:51Hey Andy, sorry about that. Can you give us a little count on the microphone?
02:54We weren't getting the audio down here.
03:14Check.
03:18Okay, just another quick count.
03:20One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
03:37All right, 11, 12, 13, we're ready to roll.
03:39Excellent.
03:42A big warm welcome to crew eight from all of us up here.
03:47Wouldn't you know it, after having made fun of crew eight for being,
03:51or for launching late, they arrive early to the space station
03:54and have us scrambling this morning.
03:56But it's absolutely fantastic to see their smiling faces.
04:01Welcome to space, Matt, Jeannette, and Alex.
04:06And welcome back to space to Mike.
04:10This is also for crew seven, a slightly bittersweet moment,
04:14because with their arrival, it also starts the countdown to our own departure
04:19and return to Earth in about a week's time.
04:22But it's great to see crew eight.
04:24Welcome.
04:25You guys are going to have a fantastic mission.
04:28I'm sure of it.
04:29And we look forward to spending the next week in space with you.
04:34And for Laurel, Oleg, and Nikolai, there you are, a few more weeks.
04:40But welcome to you, and 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.
05:02Or so we hope or wished.
05:04Anyway, we're so excited to be here.
05:06A big thank you to everyone who helped put this together.
05:09A 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 for NASA,
05:28our friends at SpaceX for a building.
05:30A great little spaceship and a little taste of the flexibility this morning
05:33that 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.
05:38And I'm really anxious to start.
05:40Thanks for the very warm welcome from Crew 7.
05:42I second everything that Matt and Mike have said.
05:48And I just want to thank my family as well for being patient with me.
05:52And I made it here.
05:54Great things, my friends.
05:56Thank you so much.
05:57Well, thank you so much.
06:10I need a holiday in NATO.
06:11We're all good friends, T螢 made it together.
06:13Well, 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, for all of that.
06:43I can tell you on behalf of us that are left here on the planet,
06:45we are incredibly proud to be a part of this, and we're all smiling down here.
06:49All right, Station, we are now resuming operational communications.
07:08And there you have it.
07:10Crew 8 is officially on board the International Space Station and welcomed by the Expedition 70 crew,
07:15bringing 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. Central,
07:2610.53 p.m. Eastern 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 maneuvers
07:40to 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 Barrett, and Jeanette Epps,
07:50and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grubinkin docked to the International Space Station at 1.28 a.m. Central,
07:562.28 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday, March 5th,
07:59as the space station and Dragon were traveling over the North Atlantic, just east of Newfoundland.
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