Skip to main content

Crew Dragon astronauts are safely aboard the International Space Station

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon astronauts have safely boarded the International Space Station (ISS) about 28 hours after blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The astronauts — NASA’s Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, together Soichi Noguchi of Japan’s JAXA space agency — entered through the hatch at 10:10 p.m. PT on Monday, November 16.

Crew Dragon commander Michael Hopkins greets NASA astronaut Kate Rubins as he boards the space station. NASA/SpaceX

The newly arrived Crew-1 astronauts join NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, on board the space station as part of Expedition 64.

Recommended Videos

NASA livestreamed the entire event as both the spacecraft and the station orbited Earth at an altitude of 262 miles and a speed of 17,500 mph.

Shortly after docking at about 8 p.m. PT, Crew Dragon commander Michael Hopkins congratulated SpaceX and NASA for enabling “a new era of operational flights for the International Space Station from the Florida coast,” with astronaut launches and landings now possible within U.S. territory for the first time since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011.

This is only the second time the Crew Dragon has transported astronauts to the space station following a successful test flight over the summer with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. You can enjoy that historic mission again with this photo gallery.

The Crew-1 astronauts will stay aboard the space station for the next six months, carrying out a range of experiments in microgravity conditions while at the same time enjoying the view.

Check out this collection of videos made by astronauts themselves to learn more about how they work, rest, and play while staying aboard the station.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
They’re barfing on the Crew Dragon (though that’s normal, apparently)
The glass dome on SpaceX's modified Crew Dragon spacecraft.

SpaceX launched its Fram2 mission on Monday, becoming the first crewed flight to take a polar orbit.

Mission commander Chun Wang, who also funded the flight, has just posted a few early observations about the four crewmember's experiences in space.

Read more
SpaceX shares first views of polar regions from Crew Dragon
The view from the Crew Dragon on SpaceX's Fram2 mission.

SpaceX has just shared a video from the Fram2 mission, which has become the first-ever crewed flight to take a polar orbit.

The footage (below), captured by a camera attached to the opened nose cone of the Crew Dragon spacecraft about 265 miles up, features stunning scenery from the iciest regions on the planet. It also shows the Crew Dragon’s cupola window that offers the crew dramatic panoramic views of Earth and beyond. 

Read more
World’s largest ‘space window’ has just launched to orbit again
Dragon Cupola

SpaceX's cupola is in orbit again. The company first used the dome-shaped window on its Crew Dragon spacecraft for the Inspiration4 mission in 2021. And now a cupola-equipped Crew Dragon has just launched from the Kennedy Space Center, carrying four private astronauts to a polar orbit on the Fram2 mission.

The glass dome -- at 2,000 square inches the largest single window ever to have flown to space -- offers Crew Dragon passengers panoramic views of Earth and beyond. However, as the window replaces the docking port, the cupola-equipped Crew Dragon can only be used for missions that don't involve rendezvousing with the International Space Station (ISS).

Read more