Elijah Williams
Two days after launch, a Russian Soyuz manned ferry reached the International Space Station on Monday and moved into a perfect docking, bringing two short-stay crew members and a NASA astronaut beginning a six-month stay in orbit.
With Soyuz MS-25/71S commander Oleg Novitskiy, Belarusian guest aviator Marina Vasilevskaya and NASA veteran Tracy Dyson monitoring the automated approach, the spacecraft glided underneath and docked with the Earth-facing Prichal module at 11:03 a.m. EDT
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After leak checks to verify the airtight structural seal, the hatches were opened and the Soyuz crew floated to the station, welcomed 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 for 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 broadly, said through an interpreter: “I am very happy that Belarus arrived safely and safely at the International Space Station.”
“It took us two days, but we’re in great spirits and I’m super happy it turned out like this. I loved every aspect of it. great pleasure for us and brings us strength.”
NASA’s mission control team congratulated Novitskiy on safely returning “to his second home. We are happy to see him at the station once again.”
“Tracy, it’s so good to see your smiling face on the ISS,” said Costa Mavrides, NASA spacecraft communicator. “Everyone here in Houston, including his family and friends in the viewing room, are beaming with pride watching the screen.”
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Kononenko, Chub and O’Hara were released 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 is replacing O’Hara, who will return to Earth on April 6 with Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya aboard the old MS-24/70S spacecraft that sent it 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 exchange was necessary because Kononenko and Chub are in the middle of a year-long stay aboard the station, and Russian crew ships are not certified for flights lasting more than six months.
After Novitskiy, Vasilevskaya and O’Hara depart, NASA station aviators 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. NASA to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. .
After two unpiloted test flights and extensive work to fix software glitches 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 “crew flight test,” astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams will test the spacecraft’s automated and manual control systems during the trip to and from the station, spending about 10 days aboard the spacecraft. advanced post.
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 it comes to launching astronauts to and from the space station.
“Today, all of our Crew Dragons are launching (SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets),” said Dana Weigel, space station program manager. “If there was a problem with the F9, for example, and we had to be grounded for a while… if we had another vehicle, we could continue flying.”
And that would help ensure a permanent U.S. presence aboard the space station.
“So that’s the reason why, when we talk about having multiple suppliers, it’s so important for us to have that ongoing capability,” Weigel said.
