SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule completes space station docking

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SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule has arrived at the International Space Station, completing its second milestone in just over a day.

No-one was on board the Dragon capsule that launched Saturday on its first test flight, only an instrumented dummy.

But the three space station astronauts had front-row seats as the Dragon neatly docked on Sunday morning and became the first American-made, designed-for-crew spacecraft to pull up in eight years.

If the six-day demonstration goes well, SpaceX could launch two astronauts this summer under Nasa’s commercial crew programme.

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(PA Graphics)

Both astronauts were at SpaceX Mission Control in California, observing all the action.

While SpaceX has sent plenty of cargo Dragons to the space station, crew Dragon is a different vehicle.

It docked autonomously, instead of relying on the station’s robot arm for help.

Chris Price
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