Elon Musk’s SpaceX Capsule Links Up With Space Station
Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Sunday successfully docked a company-owned capsule carrying a pair of NASA astronauts with the International Space Station, capping a weekend of notable accomplishments that opened a new chapter in commercial space endeavors.
Nineteen hours after a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Saturday from Florida on a historic voyage featuring the first-ever private spacecraft to attain orbit with people on board, astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken made more history. They monitored the stately, automated rendezvous of their Crew Dragon capsule with the orbiting international laboratory 250 miles above earth, linking up at 10:16 a.m. ET to mark a new industry-government partnership aimed at revitalizing U.S. space ambitions.
Crucial parts of the trip played out smoothly, from the blastoff to the manual maneuvers near the space station and the seamless docking, culminating with a televised ceremony extolling the accomplishments.
“The whole world saw this mission, and we are so, so proud of everything you have done for our country and, in fact, to inspire the world,” an exuberant Jim Bridenstine, head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, told the crew via a video connection from its Houston mission control center.
Referring to the Covid-19 pandemic and the racial unrest across the U.S., Mr. Bridenstine said the latest successes notched by NASA in partnership with Space Exploration Technologies Corp.—the formal name for Mr. Musk’s company—will help Americans “look at the future and say things are going to be brighter.”
At a later press conference, Mr. Bridenstine said, “This has gone as well as we could have expected it to go.”
The mission’s assortment of firsts is likely to provide momentum for proposed public-private collaborations to return U.S. astronauts to the moon and similar arrangements for exploration of Mars and other commercial ventures throughout the solar system. President Trump has set a 2024 goal for the next moon landing.
NASA envisions a surge in companies hunting for business opportunities beyond the atmosphere. “There are other companies, right now, stepping up to the plate that want to be part of this” new government-industry dynamic, Mr. Bridenstine said.
Such projects still face significant funding and technical challenges, starting with uncertainties about prospects for future corporate profits. According to many experts inside and outside NASA, the agency’s current plans for swiftly getting back to the lunar surface at this point are significantly underfunded.
White House and Pentagon officials view the mission partly as a way to counter civil and military space advances by China and Russia.
SpaceX’s weekend exploits highlighted how far the closely held company has come since its creation as a scrappy startup with a handful of employees working out of a converted warehouse near a strip mall in a Los Angeles suburb.
Around 1 p.m. Sunday—nearly three hours after arriving at its destination—Crew Dragon’s hatch was opened, and the newest inhabitants of the space station crawled through a connecting tunnel to emerge into the $100 billion facility as its newest inhabitants.
“Bob and Doug, we’re glad to have you as part of the crew,” said U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy, the space station’s commander, ringing a traditional ship’s bell to mark the occasion. The arrivals hugged Mr. Cassidy and two Russian crew members already in orbit.
Mr. Hurley, dressed in tan pants and a blue, short-sleeved polo shirt with the mission’s logo, said, “We’re just really glad to be on board this magnificent complex.”
On Saturday the crew underwent final medical checks, received weather and other briefings and then rode to the pad in a white, electric-powered sedan built by Tesla Inc., another of Mr. Musk’s companies. The launch was the first to blast human beings into space from a U.S. location in nine years, since NASA’s geriatric fleet of space shuttles was retired.
The technically smooth countdown at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center had its share of suspense, though, as weather forecasts predicted only a 50-50 chance of acceptable conditions, with rain in the vicinity. Dark, towering clouds and rain menaced the 230-foot rocket during earlier portions of the countdown, but the weather improved dramatically about an hour before launch.
Photo: Astronauts Doug Hurley, right, and Bob Behnken, second from the right, join the crew at the international space station. - NASA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
