11 astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station: Crew-7, front row, left to right: Konstantin Borisov, Andreas Mogensen, Jasmin Moghbeli and Satoshi Furukawa; second row, left to right: UAE Astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, Soyuz MS-23/69S Astronaut Frank Rubio, MS 23/69S Commander Sergey Prokopyev, Crew-6 Pilot Woody Hoburg and Crew-6 Commander Stephen Bowen; floating upside down, left to right: Soyuz MS-23/69S cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin and Crew-6 cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev. Image: NASA Television. The SpaceX Crew Dragon shuttle docked with the International Space Station on Sunday after a 29-hour rendezvous, bringing four new crew members to the lab to replace four others who have completed six months in orbit.
Crew-7 commander Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov docked at the laboratory at 9:16 a.m. EDT. After extensive leak checks, the hatches were opened and the crew was welcomed aboard by seven members of the station’s crew.
“Expedition 69 is very pleased to welcome new crew members,” said ISS Commander Sergei Prokopyev. He noted that space veterans Mogensen and Furukawa are making their second visit to the station, while Moghbeli and Borisov are making their first flight.
“Congratulations Jasmin and Konstantina, this is your first flight, now you have become a real astronaut and cosmonaut, and I believe that this will be (a) very significant event in your life. Welcome to the. We look forward to working together.”
Moghbeli, a helicopter tester in the Marine Corps, said, “It’s great to see all your smiling faces. As you know, we have been training together for some time for this very moment when we could join you and continue the wonderful work we have done on the International Space Station.
“I want to thank all the teams again for preparing for this moment. I think we represent a good crew coming to the International Space Station.
Moghbeli and her Crew-7 colleagues blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Saturday. It was NASA’s seventh operational Crew Dragon flight to the space station and the first involving crew members from four different space agencies.
Their addition to the station’s crew, which includes Crew-6 astronaut Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates, means that the United States, Russia, Japan, Denmark and the United Arab Emirates are represented by five nations at the appropriately named laboratory complex.
But not for long.
The Crew-7 shuttles replace Crew-6 commander Stephen Bowen, pilot Woody Hoburg, cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and Alneyadi. They plan to disconnect and return to Earth in just under a week to complete the six-month mission.
Two weeks after the departure of Crew-6, on September 15, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
This crew, in turn, will replace Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. They are scheduled to return to Earth on September 27 to complete a 371-day marathon in orbit and set a new record for the longest US space flight.
