Good news from outer space! The Crew Dragon Demo-2 has successfully docked with the International Space Station. It marks the first mission to space for astronauts launching from American facilities since 2011, and they wore snazzy new uniforms with NASA’s retro “worm” logo while doing it.
Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are the first to dock a commercial spacecraft with the ISS. Their Dragon 2 reusable spacecraft, which they named Endeavour, left the earth powered by a Falcon 9 rocket.
The enormous first stage booster then landed on an autonomous spaceport drone ship — a barge in the Atlantic — called I Know Your Love Me. This is further proof that SpaceX’s founder Elon Musk was into giving things unusual names long before he and his girlfriend Grimes brought little X Æ A-Xii into the world.
Of Course I Still Love You and sister ship Just Read The Instructions are references to starships in the works of late science fiction author Iain Banks. A third, similarly named vessel, A Shortfall of Gravitas, is under construction.
The astronauts, who are called Bob & Doug to the delight of Gen X comedy fans, were awakened by mission control with the uncharacteristically mellow Black Sabbath tune “Planet Caravan.”
“Bob & Doug” will remain on the ISS for 30 to 90 days. SpaceX, a private company formed in 2002, has as its wider goal the eventual colonization of Mars.
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