SpaceX's Dragon capsule astronauts aboard the International Space Station

Sylvie Claire / November 17, 2020

The four astronauts taken into orbit by the private company SpaceX's Dragon capsule boarded the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday.

The "Resilience" vessel docked at 5:01 am HB on Tuesday, according to images broadcast live on the internet by NASA, the US space agency, which hopes no longer to have to depend on Russian rockets to reach the ISS.

The four astronauts then floated in zero gravity through the airlock to the station, where they were greeted by the three crew members.

"Thank you for allowing me to say hello to all of you," said NASA's head of manned programs, Kathy Leuders, in a video sent to the astronauts. "I just wanted to tell you how proud we are of you. »

The capsule, dubbed "Resilience", was launched by a reusable Falcon 9 rocket from private firm SpaceX, NASA's new means of space transportation after nine years of dependence on Russia and the first spacecraft to be qualified by NASA to transport humans from the space shuttle, almost 40 years ago.

The Falcon rocket took off at the scheduled time Monday evening from Kennedy Space Center, Florida (southeastern United States), with Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi strapped to the Dragon capsule attached to the top.

It was a hell of a launch, "said Captain Michael Hopkins once in orbit.