Status: 04/28/2022 1:25 p.m
The replacement for the German astronaut Maurer is here: the “Dragon” capsule with four people docked at the ISS. With the US geologist Watkins, a black woman will be in space for a longer period of time for the first time.
Shortly after a group of space tourists returned from the International Space Station, a new crew has arrived on the ISS. Around 20 hours after the launch of the carrier rocket from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the USA, the “Dragon” capsule from the space company SpaceX docked at the space station.
The four-person team will replace German Matthias Maurer and three of his US colleagues on the ISS, who are due to return to Earth next week. In addition to Maurer, “Crew 3” consists of US astronauts Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron. Until their planned return, a total of eleven people will be working on the ISS for a short period of time, including the Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov.
First black woman in space for a long time
The new crew, “Crew 4”, is to remain on the ISS for five months. With the American Jessica Watkins, a black woman will be in space for a longer period of time for the first time. In the era of the space shuttle, two African American women had each been briefly on the ISS. The geologist Watkins, who is also considered a promising candidate for a NASA moon landing in the next few years, spoke of an “important milestone” for NASA and the USA.
American Bob Hines also made his first flight to the ISS, while Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and mission commander Kjell Lindgren are in space for the second time.
SpaceX flies for NASA
Billionaire Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX has now brought astronauts to the ISS five times for NASA and carried private guests twice, once to earth orbit and once to the ISS.