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 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.

01:12First aboard was NASA astronaut Matthew Dominic followed behind him NASA astronaut Michael

01:27Barrett and NASA astronaut Jeannette Epps and pulling up the end we have Roscosmos cosmonaut

01:34Alexander Grubinkin.

01:50The Kru-8 astronauts now officially a part of Expedition 70 and the other Expedition 70 crewmembers giving them hugs

02:00and handshakes as they make their way onto the International Space Station which will be their home

02:05for the next six months as they conduct important science and research.

02:09Spatioon, this is Houston on Space to Ground 2. Are you ready for the event?

02:24Spatioon, this is Houston on Space to Ground 2. Are you ready for the event?

02:33All right. Let's roll.

02:38Standby. Standby.

02:39Standby.

02:46Andy, sorry about that. Can you give us a little count on the microphone?

02:52Give us a little count on the microphone.

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

03:14Check.

03:19Okay, just another quick count.

03:22One, two, three, four, five.

03:28Six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

03:35All 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.

03:51Wouldn't you know it, after having made fun of Crew 8 for launching late, they arrive early

03:57to the space station and have us scrambling this morning, but it's absolutely fantastic to see their

04:03smiling faces.

04:04Welcome to space, Matt, Jeannette, and Alex, and welcome back to space to Mike.

04:14This is also for Crew 7, a slightly bittersweet moment, because with their arrival, it also

04:20starts 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 and for Laurel, Oleg, and Nikolai.

04:44There you are.

04:45A few more weeks.

04:47But welcome to you, and I'll pass the mic to you, Matt.

04:52Thank 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 to

05:00kind 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, such a giant team around the

05:10world.

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

05:15Over to you, Mike.

05:16Well, 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, our friends at

05:29SpaceX for a great little spaceship and a little taste of the flexibility this morning that

05:33we'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 I'm really anxious

05:39to start.

05:40Thanks for the very warm welcome from Cruise 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.

05:53And I made it here.

05:55Hello everyone.

05:58Thank you very much.

05:59Thank you very much.

06:00Thank you very much.

06:01Thank you very much.

06:02Thank you very much.

06:03Thank you very much.

06:04Thank you very much.

06:05Well, 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, we are

06:46incredibly proud to be a part of this, and we're all smiling down here.

06:49All right, Station, we are now resuming operational communications.

06:54And there you have it.

07:09Crew 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.

07:19Crew 8 began their journey to the orbiting laboratory following a liftoff at 9.53 p.m.

07:24Central, 10.53 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, March 3rd from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space

07:31Center in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

07:34Following 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 Dominic, Michael Barrett,

07:49and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grubinkin docked to the International Space

07:54Station at 1.28 a.m. Central, 2.28 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday, March 5th, as the Space Station

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

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