Derek Richardson
April fifth, 2021

SpaceX’s Crew-1 Dragon and its four-person astronaut crew relocated from the ahead docking port on the Concord module to the space-facing port in an effort to arrange for the arrival of Crew-2 and CRS-22 within the coming weeks and months. Credit score: NASA
In one of many last main actions of the Crew-1 mission, its 4 astronaut riders suited as much as relocate docking ports to clear the way in which for the following Crew Dragon mission to the Worldwide Area Station.
At 6:30 a.m. EDT (10:30 UTC) April 5, 2021, SpaceX’s Crew-1 Dragon and its occupants undocked from Worldwide Docking Adapter 2 on the ahead finish of the Concord module and commenced a 40-minute-long course of to again away and fly round to space-facing Worldwide Docking Adapter 3.

The Crew-1 astronauts examine to make sure their fits match correctly within the days earlier than the port relocation. From left to proper: NASA’s Shannon Walker, Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi. Credit score: NASA
Re-docking with the ISS befell at 7:08 a.m. EDT (11:08 UTC).
Aboard have been NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, in addition to Japan Aerospace Exploration Company astronaut Soichi Noguchi. The 4 have been suited up and ready to return to Earth within the occasion the spacecraft couldn’t re-dock with the ISS. Nevertheless, every little thing went as anticipated.
This was the primary docking port relocation for a industrial crew spacecraft and begins a course of that’ll enable for brand new photo voltaic arrays to be added to the house station after being delivered by the following cargo Dragon spacecraft.
When the following cargo Dragon, CRS-22, arrives as early as June 2021, it must dock with IDA-Three so as to make sure the trunk of the spacecraft is shut sufficient for the house station’s robotic Canadarm2 to achieve into it to seize a brand new set of photo voltaic arrays.
However earlier than CRS-22 launches to the ISS, Crew-2 is anticipated to convey 4 new crew members to the outpost.
Reasonably than having Crew-2 initially dock to IDA-Three and relocate ports solely a month or so into their flight, Crew-1 (being close to the top of its six-month mission) moved there to permit Crew-2 to dock at IDA-2 later this month.

The total seven-person Expedition 64 crew. From left to proper: NASA’s Shannon Walker, Victor Glover and Kate Rubins, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. Credit score: NASA
By the point CRS-22 launches and reaches the ISS, Crew-1 can have already returned to Earth.
Crew-2 is slated to convey NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and European Area Company astronaut Thomas Pesquet to the outpost for a six-month keep.
Launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Area Heart’s Launch Complicated 39A is at the moment anticipated on April 22 with rendezvous and docking scheduled for a day later.
After a week-long handover interval, Crew-1 and its four-person crew is anticipated to return to Earth for a parachute assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida as early as April 28.
Total, April is anticipated to be a busy month for visiting car visitors on the ISS. On April 9, Soyuz MS-18 is anticipated to launch to the outpost with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.
The Soyuz MS-18 trio is supposed to switch the outgoing Soyuz MS-17 crew — Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins — who’ve been aboard the ISS since October 2020.
Soyuz MS-17 is anticipated to depart the outpost April 17 and land in Kazakhstan a number of hours later.
Video courtesy of Orbital Velocity
Derek Richardson
Derek Richardson has a level in mass media, with an emphasis in modern journalism, from Washburn College in Topeka, Kansas. Whereas at Washburn, he was the managing editor of the scholar run newspaper, the Washburn Overview. He additionally has a weblog concerning the Worldwide Area Station, referred to as Orbital Velocity.