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Two days after launch, a Russian Soyuz crew shuttle reached the International Space Station on Monday and approached for a perfect docking, bringing two short-lived crew members and a NASA astronaut, beginning a six-month stay. in orbit.
With Soyuz MS-25/71S commander Oleg Novitskiy, Belarusian guest pilot Marina Vasilevskaya and NASA veteran Tracy Dyson monitoring the automated approach, the spacecraft glided from below and docked on the Prichal module, facing Earth, at 11:03 am EDT.
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After performing leak checks to verify a tight structural seal, the hatches were opened and the soyuz crew floated into the station, greeted by ISS Commander Oleg Kononenko, cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin, along with NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps.
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“Marina, you opened the door to Belarus to be in space,” Russian mission control radioed from Moscow. “So have a great and safe mission. Enjoy your work, your free time. We are very proud of you. All the people of Belarus are proud of you.”
Vasilevskaya, smiling widely, said through an interpreter: “I am very happy that Belarus has arrived safely at the International Space Station.”
“It took us two days, but we are in a very good mood and I am very happy that it happened that way. I loved every aspect… We are very happy that you support us. It is a great pleasure for us and it gives us strength “
NASA’s mission control team congratulated Novitskiy for returning safely “to his second home. We are happy to see him on the station once again.”
“Tracy, it’s great to see your smiling face back on the ISS,” said NASA spacecraft communicator Costa Mavrides. “Everyone here in Houston, including their family and friends in the viewing room, is beaming with pride as they see the screen.”
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Kononenko, Chub and O’Hara were launched last September aboard the Soyuz MS-24/70S ferry as Dominick, Barratt, Epps and Grebenkin arrived earlier this month aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon.
Dyson replaces O’Hara, who will return to Earth on April 6 with Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya aboard the aging MS-24/70S spacecraft that launched her into orbit last year. Dyson will return home next September with Kononenko and Chub using the MS-25/71S spacecraft delivered by Novitskiy.
The Soyuz switch was necessary because Kononenko and Chub are halfway through a yearlong stay aboard the station, and Russian-crewed ships are not certified for flights lasting more than six months.
Following the departure of Novitskiy, Vasilevskaya and O’Hara, NASA station pilots will continue ongoing research and make preparations for the arrival of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in early May, the first piloted flight. of a NASA-sponsored alternative to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. .
After two unpiloted test flights and extensive work to fix software problems and unexpected problems with corroded propulsion system valves, NASA and Boeing officials say the spacecraft is finally ready to transport astronauts to and from the station. .
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For the next “crewed flight test,” astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams will test the craft’s manual and automated control systems during the trip to and from the station, spending about 10 days aboard of the outpost.
If the flight goes well, the Starliner will be certified for use on future ISS crew rotation missions, alternating with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and providing NASA with redundancy when launching astronauts to and from the space station.
“Today, all of our Crew Dragons launch (on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets),” said space station program manager Dana Weigel. “If there was a problem with the F9, for example, and we had to stop for a while… if we had another vehicle we could continue flying.”
And that would help ensure a permanent American presence aboard the space station.
“That’s why when we talk about having multiple suppliers, it’s so important for us to have that continuous capability,” Weigel said.
