NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 Entered International Space Station After Docking
Commander Matthew Dominick, pilot Michael Barratt, mission specialists Jeanette Epps and Aleksandr Grebenkin arrived at the International Space Station after docking.
Credit: NASA
Credit: NASA
Transcript
00:00And
00:17contact confirm dragon made contact with the International Space Station at 1128 PM Pacific
00:23while flying central over the North Atlantic Ocean just east of Newfoundland.
00:33And now you are seeing a live view inside the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft.
00:39You can see the SpaceX suits that the Crew 8 crew members were wearing for the docking
00:46operations as well as for launch on Sunday, March 3rd.
00:52Crew 8 is currently standing by and they will be ingressing into the International
00:57Space Station just a short time from now.
01:05And there we can see Crew 8 being joyfully welcomed aboard the International Space Station.
01:21First aboard was NASA astronaut Matthew Dominic, followed behind him NASA astronaut Michael
01:27Barrett and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps.
01:31And pulling up the end we have Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grubinken.
01:50The Crew 8 astronauts now officially a part of Expedition 70 and the other Expedition
01:5770 crew members giving them hugs and handshakes as they make their way onto the International
02:03Space Station which will be their home for the next six months as they conduct important
02:08science and research.
02:21Station, this is Houston on Space to Ground 2.
02:23Are you ready for the event?
02:34Alright, let's roll.
02:38Alright, stand by, stand by.
02:50Hey Andy, sorry about that.
02:52Can you give us a little count on the microphone?
02:54We weren't getting the audio down here.
03:14Check.
03:17Okay, just another quick count.
03:231, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
03:37Alright, 11, 12, 13, we're ready to roll.
03:40Excellent.
03:42A big warm welcome to Crew 8 from all of us up here.
03:47Wouldn't you know it after having made fun of Crew 8 for being or for launching late,
03:52they arrive early to the Space Station and have us scrambling this morning.
03:56But it's absolutely fantastic to see their smiling faces.
04:01Welcome to space.
04:03Smiling faces.
04:05Welcome to space, Matt, Jeanette and Alex.
04:11And welcome back to space to Mike.
04:14This is also for Crew 7 a slightly bittersweet moment because with their arrival,
04:19it also starts the countdown to our own departure and return to Earth in about a week's time.
04:26But it's great to see Crew 8.
04:28Welcome.
04:30You guys are going to have a fantastic mission.
04:32I'm sure of it.
04:34And we look forward to spending the next week in space with you.
04:37And for Laurel, Alec and Nikolai, there you are, a few more weeks.
04:47But welcome to you, and I'll pass the mic to you, Matt.
04:53Thank you so much.
04:54We are, of course, super excited to be here.
04:56And after we saw you call us out yesterday,
04:58we phoned a few friends to expedite things to kind of throw you off guard on purpose,
05:02or so we hoped 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 world.
05:10And we're excited to be on board and ready to take over the watch.
05:14Over to you, Mike.
05:17Well, 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.
05:25And just a big shout-out to all the folks who got us up here to NASA,
05:28our friends at SpaceX for building a great little spaceship
05:31and a little taste of the flexibility this morning that we'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 to start.
05:40Thanks for the very warm welcome from Crew 7.
05:45I second everything that Matt and Mike have said.
05:49And I just want to thank my family as well for being patient with me.
05:53And I made it here.
05:56Awesome.
06:18So, 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,
06:45we are incredibly proud to be a part of this and we're all smiling down here.
06:49All right, station, we are now resuming operational communications.
07:08And there you have it.
07:09Crew 8 is officially on board the International Space Station
07:12and welcomed by the Expedition 70 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. Central,
07:2510.53 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, March 3rd,
07:28from launch pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
07:34Following orbital insertion, the Dragon vehicle carrying Crew 8 completed a series of automatic maneuvers
07:39to 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 Dominick, Michael Barrett and Jeanette Epps
07:50and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grubinkin docked to the International Space Station at 1.28 a.m. Central,
07:562.28 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday, March 5th,
07:59as the space station and Dragon were traveling over the North Atlantic just east of Newfoundland.