SpaceX F9 / Crew Dragon : Crew-2 - LAUNCH - RNDZ - DOCKING: Apr.23/25 - UPDATES

[Rondaz]

The four new @SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts joined the Exp 65 crew today bringing the station population to 11.

https://twitter.com/Space_Station/status/1385928803730432006

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/astro_soichi/status/1385930687975280649

We are happy eleven on #ISS! Welcome back to home away from home for 6 months!!!!!! #crew1 #crew2 #soyuzms18

[jacqmans]

Alpha - Second Space Station mission for ESA’s Thomas Pesquet begins

ESA Press Release for Immediate Release

Saturday, 24 April 2021

Today at 11:08 the Crew Dragon spacecraft with ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide docked with the International Space Station's Node-2 Harmony module, marking the start of ESA’s six-month mission Alpha.

The crew spent around 23 hours orbiting Earth and catching up with the International Space Station after their launch on 23 April at 10:49 BST (11:49 CEST; 05:49 local time).
Thomas is the first ESA astronaut to fly in space in a vehicle other than the Russian Soyuz or the US Space Shuttle, and the first ESA astronaut to leave Earth from Florida, USA, in over a decade.

This is his second flight, his first mission called Proxima saw Thomas fly to the Space Station on a Soyuz from Baikonur in Kazakhstan and his expedition broke records for amount of hours spent on research at the time.

Bigger and better
For Alpha everything is set to be bigger and better. The new Crew Dragon ships four astronauts at a time allowing for more people to live and work on the International Space Station doing more research for scientists on Earth.

A Russian laboratory module is set to arrive in the summer with a European robotic arm that will offer more ways of maintaining the International Space Station and support spacewalkers as they work outside. Thomas will help in setting up the arm and preparing it for use during the Alpha mission.

Faster and smarter
As the new crew arrived on the International Space Station through a commercial spaceflight, the Station itself is offering further commercial access to space.

“I salute Thomas and the crew as they embark on another six-month adventure of work and science in space,” says ESA’s Director General Josef Aschbacher, “the Alpha mission is a testament to what we can do in international, governmental and commercial collaboration.

“There are three European commercial services offering facilities for organisations to run their own experiments cheaply and quickly in humankind’s unique laboratory in space, both inside and out, your experiment could be flying in just six months’ time.”

Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by French space agency CNES.

At the end of the Alpha mission in October, Thomas is slated to take over commandership role of the International Space Station for a brief period and welcome ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer on his first flight to space.

Further information
Latest updates on the Alpha mission can be found via @esaspaceflight on Twitter, with more details on ESA’s exploration blog via thomaspesquet.esa.int.

Background information on the Alpha mission is available at www.esa.int/MissionAlpha with a brochure at www.esa.int/AlphaBrochure.   

More information about ESA: www.esa.int

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Interesting thread on close approach of surprise object yesterday and suit implications:

https://twitter.com/chrisg_nsf/status/1385955252868980739

Per the close approach of that surprise object yesterday to #CrewDragon #Endeavour, the importance of building a spacecraft for seven while only flying four… Quick, simultaneous ingress of suits.

twitter.com/timandra/status/1385668565412376581

That was some excitement on my shift! A sudden object, close approach to Dragon, high uncertainty, very short time to react. SpaceX handled it beautifully. Very grateful for orbital debris tracking by US Space Command and very alert ISS TOPOs.

https://twitter.com/timandra/status/1385671861527224326

@SpaceAbhi You know how vigorously we debated how long it would take 4 crew to get suited in Dragon in zero-g ... now we know. I’m really glad the design enables rapid donning.

https://twitter.com/timandra/status/1385703310649266178

Hey Molly! It was right around 10 mins for donning then another few mins for zippers to close, umbilicals connected, visors down.  At least according to my notes. We don’t have the cabin video like they do in Hawthorne so that might be a bit off.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Couple more launch photos by Ben Cooper posted by SpaceX

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/thom_astro/status/1385996885136187396

Google translate:

OK, this was the second time, so I thought I was only moderately impressed with the takeoff and WHAT A MISTAKE !! Probably the best feelings of my life 😮😳🤩

https://twitter.com/thom_astro/status/1386013361809281024

Google translate:

24h in the volume of a Fiat 500 with three friends and yet you feel at home ... at an altitude of 400 km! Superb technical and operational performance of all the teams who trained and supervised us for this trip 👏

Edit to add: attached photo was taken by @Astro_Soichi from Crew 1 Dragon Resilience

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/thom_astro/status/1386286404745916418

I took a very lucky shot: as I was getting out of my spacesuit and looking out the window, I happened to spot our 2nd stage of the @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, flying in formation with us on a perfectly parallel track, but lower... two tiny objects 200 km above Earth! #MissionAlpha

Edit to add: higher res version from flickr & cropped view of S2

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/considercosmos/status/1386314132060655619

A gift of perspective. The beauty of #crew2 liftoff is still on our minds.

Thanks for the tour @Thom_astro 

📽️ @johnpisaniphoto for CP

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/thom_astro/status/1386331928031334409

Here's one of the most secret yet useful systems on the spacecraft... our toilet! There's a curtain for privacy, and the rest is really just technicalities... let's just say that the only advantage is the view. 😉 Shoutout to its designer @SpaceX! flic.kr/p/2kURdDH

[Everything Space]

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/sciguyspace/status/1386376293004976129

According to Lt. Col. Erin Dick, US Space Command, there was never a collision threat to the Crew-Dragon on Friday. "Upon further analysis, 18 SPCS quickly determined the potential conjunction between the Crew-2 capsule and the object was an inaccurate report."

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/spacexfleet/status/1386406351824297987

Well well well... What's this then?

OCISLY droneship with the Crew-2 booster is trying to sneak into Port Canaveral this afternoon without us noticing!

Arrival imminent. Thanks to Mark Harlan for spotting.

📸 visitspacecoast.com

[Rondaz]

And finally, something that we won't have much time to do aboard the @Space_Station: to relax !

https://twitter.com/Thom_astro/status/1386379455309000705

[Rondaz]

Ladies and gentlemen, our wonderful flight crew, @Astro_Megan and @astro_kimbrough! They are excellent spacecraft pilots;) #MissionAlpha

https://twitter.com/Thom_astro/status/1386379401953226760

[Rondaz]

@Aki_Hoshide & Shane hanging out between manoeuvres. We don’t wear the spacesuit during the whole ascent, only for the dynamic phases (launch and docking)... well, except if for example you have to prepare for a debris avoidance manoeuvre...

https://twitter.com/Thom_astro/status/1386382264335011856

[Rondaz]

This picture might not seem that much but that's our first sighting of @Space_Station, dozens of kilometers away! Our destination, brightly lit by the sun, looked like a tiny insect in the sky, when it is 70m wide in reality. Another stroke of luck as I was looking out the window.

https://twitter.com/Thom_astro/status/1386393308243447808

[FutureSpaceTourist]

twitter.com/trevormahlmann/status/1386424734221357060

Howdy Falcon 9 B1061.2! Just shy of 2.5 days after launching the 2nd operational Crew Dragon mission to @Space_Station, it is now returning to Port Canaveral 🚀 #SpaceXFleet

my full #Crew2 gallery: tmahlmann.com/photos/Rockets…

https://twitter.com/trevormahlmann/status/1386431039317368838

Just your typical Sunday afternoon in Florida watching orbital-class rockets roll into port 👩‍❤️‍👨🚀🌤 #shotoniphone

[FutureSpaceTourist]

NSF Fleetcam shots

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/kyle_m_photo/status/1386554180987412480

Time lapse of the Crew 2 booster's return to Port Canaveral

Youtube Upload ➡ youtu.be/zrwpqBqjqxU

https://twitter.com/kyle_m_photo/status/1386497125270368259

I found the astronaut's initials on the side of the crew 2 booster that returned to port earlier today, not as prominent as before their flight, but they're still there