NASA’s flight engineers Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg respectively commanded and piloted the Crew Dragon Endeavor which undocked from the space-facing port of the International Space Station Harmony module on May 5 at 11:10 a.m. UTC.
The two NASA astronauts were joined by the other Crew-6 members, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
Endeavor automatically docked at the forward port of the Harmony module at 11:53 a.m. UTC after 43 minutes of maneuvers. The activity was successful thanks to the coordination with mission controllers on the ground.
The @SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour redocked to its new port and completed its relocation maneuver at 8:01am ET today. https://t.co/Prt6YQWXp3
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) May 6, 2023
The transfer has freed up Harmony’s space-facing port for the upcoming docking of the next cargo spacecraft, SpaceX CRS-28, set to launch in June.
This position is ideal for the Canadarm2 robotic arm to reach and access the resupply ship’s cargo bay; inside there will be a new set of roll-out solar arrays that two astronauts on a future spacewalk will install on the International Space Station augmenting its power generation system.
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Crew Dragon Spacecraft
The Crew Dragon is a reusable spacecraft developed by SpaceX; it can accommodate up to seven passengers or a combination of astronauts and payloads for trips to Earth orbit and to the International Space Station (ISS).
On May 30, 2020, it became the first private spacecraft to take humans to the ISS, giving back to the United States the ability to launch its astronauts into space and the independence from the Russian Soyuz.
To date, it is the only active spacecraft able to splash down safely using four parachutes that decelerate it before the landing in the ocean.
In addition to flying astronauts for NASA and other government space agencies, it can carry tourists, and commercial and private astronauts (like Axiom Space customers) to Earth orbit and the ISS.
The next Crew Dragon flight will see the second Axiom Space mission (Ax-2) reach the space station for a journey of about two weeks.
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