After a textbook launch and deployment, the Dragon spacecraft commenced its 28-and-half-hour journey to the International Space Station (ISS).
During this journey, the Dragon crew car, named “Grace”, will execute a sequence of burns to steadily increase and line up the Ax-4 crew for docking with the ISS in what’s referred to as the activation and rendezvous part of the flight.
Getting comfy
“In just a few minutes, the crew will change out of their space suits to get a little bit more comfortable for flight and will enjoy their first meal aboard the spacecraft. Over the course of their flight, they will also have a rest period that will last for about eight hours. Before they arrive at the ISS, we will have three potential opportunities to chat briefly with the crew onboard. We hope one of these will work out, none of them are guaranteed dependent both on crew schedule and ground station coverage,” an Axiom official stated.
The spacecraft will dock autonomously to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.
According to SpaceX, after executing a sequence of burns, which will transfer the car nearer to the ISS, the Dragon will carry out ultimate docking manoeuvres, adopted by pressurization of the vestibule, hatch opening, and crew ingress.
Extensive checks
The docking is predicted to final just a few hours as in depth checks can be carried out, following which the Ax-4 crew members will float into the ISS.
“Once the Ax-4 crew arrives at the ISS, they would be greeted by the crew onboard the orbiting space station from NASA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Russia’s Roscosmos,” added the official.
The focused docking time at the orbiting laboratory is roughly 7 a.m. Eastern Time (4.30 p.m. IST) on Thursday (June 26).
