NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station Sunday as part of the manned Demo-2 test flight mission.
A blog post posted Sunday says Hurley and Behnken named their spacecraft “Endeavour” after they reached the orbit and joined the Expedition 63 crew after they docked to the orbiting laboratory’s Harmony module at 10:16 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft for Demo-2 took off Saturday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a Falcon 9 rocket as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Demo-2 serves as SpaceX’s final test flight to validate the spacecraft, launch vehicle, spacesuits and other components of its crew transportation system.
NASA said in a Tweet the mission marks the first time NASA astronauts have reached and entered the ISS from a commercial spacecraft. Crew Dragon is designed to launch up to four astronauts and transport more than 220 pounds of cargo in support of operational missions.
The crew will carry out tests to ensure that the spacecraft can remain docked at the ISS for up to 210 days in future missions in addition to performing research and other tasks at the space station. The mission’s specific duration will be determined upon arrival at the ISS based on the next manned launch’s readiness.
