David Saint-Jacques the First Astronaut to Enter New SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques is the first crew member to enter the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule after it was docked to the International Space Station of is maiden voyage. Credit: NASA.

A new spacecraft has docked with the Space Station, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on its maiden voyage, a precursor to astronauts using the spacecraft.

The Demo 1 mission is the first of NASA’s Commercial Crew program. The SpaceX Crew Dragon can seat four astronauts and carry cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).

For this first demonstration mission there are no astronauts onboard. There is a dummy called Ripley, or to be more precise, an anthropomorphic test device that is wired up with sensors so that SpaceX and NASA can measure a variety of data during the launch and flight to the ISS.

Early this morning, and just over 24 hours after the launch, the spacecraft arrived at the ISS.David Saint-Jacques, NASA astronaut Anne McClain, and Russian cosmonaut and Expedition 58 commander Oleg Kononenko opened the hatch between the Crew Dragon and the ISS at 8:07 a.m. EST.

The docking of the spacecraft happened at  6:02 a.m. EST and was the first autonomous docking of a U.S. spacecraft to the ISS.

Onboard the spacecraft NASA sent more than 180 kg of crew supplies and equipment to the space station, including more than 1,000 food and drink packages for the crew.

According to SpaceX the “Crew Dragon will autonomously undock with the International Space Station on Friday, March 8 at approximately 2:30 a.m. EST. About five hours after Dragon departs the space station, it will conduct its deorbit burn, which lasts approximately 15 minutes. Dragon will reenter Earth’s atmosphere and splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean about 35 to 40 minutes later, or at approximately 8:45 a.m. EST.”

About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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