NASA's Crew-13 boards ISS after record-fast flight

The four astronauts of NASA's Crew-13 boarded the International Space Station on Thursday night following a blistering nearly eight-hour flight from launch on Florida's east coast to docking.

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Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The four astronauts of NASA's Crew-13 boarded the International Space Station on Thursday night following a blistering nearly eight-hour flight from launch on Florida's east coast to docking.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft made contact with the ISS at 7:05 p.m. EDT, a record 7 hours and 55 minutes from launch to contact by a U.S. spacecraft in the orbiting science center's history.

Hatch opening occurred at 9:19 p.m., followed by NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov boarding the ISS, where they were greeted with handshakes, hugs and cheers from several members of Expedition 75 who were awaiting their arrival.

"It's amazing and kind of ironic to think that it's such a short trip to get here, because the journey to get here has been long," Watkins said during the live broadcast of the welcoming ceremony. "And we are just so grateful for all of the support from the ground teams that enabled us to get here safely today and all of our loved ones across the world, we are so grateful."

She also thanked Expedition 75, which began its mission in late July, for the warm welcome.

Kutryk, the first Canadian astronaut to live on the ISS since David Saint-Jacques' 204-day mission that ended in June 2019, expressed his excitement to be there.

"I cannot believe I'm here. What a crazy day. A long day. I just can't believe it. But it feels really good to have CSA back, the Canadian flag back. I'm looking forward to a good mission after some sleep," he said.

The Dragon spacecraft launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 11:10 a.m. from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, shortly after Watkins thanked the ground crew, NASA, SpaceX, CSA and Roscosmos for having "come together every day to make the impossible look easy, the extraordinary look routine and the future of exploration look bright.

"To our families and friends, we wouldn't be here today without your love, support and sacrifice. Human spaceflight is truly a team sport, and it is an honor and a privilege to represent all of you who have contributed to the success of this mission. With gratitude and grace, Crew-13 is ready to fly," she said.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement that "Crew-13 is another demonstration of America's unmatched capability in human spaceflight and the strength of our commercial partnerships."

"Jessica, Luke, Joshua and Sergey will carry forward important work aboard the International Space Station while helping us build the experience and capabilities needed for ambitious missions to the Moon and beyond. Congratulations to the crew and the NASA and SpaceX teams who made today's launch possible."

The Crew-13 team has now joined the Expedition 75 crew, which includes NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, aboard the station.

After a brief handover, NASA's SpaceX Crew‑12 mission -- with astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev -- will return to Earth after seven months aboard the ISS. Crew-13 will spend the next six months there.

"Our steady cadence of commercial crew launches demonstrates the essential role the International Space Station plays in sustaining our presence in Earth's orbit and sharpening the tools we'll take forward to the Moon and Mars," Lori Glaze, associate administrator of NASA's Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate, said in a statement.

"Each space station mission adds to our blueprint for exploration, and the work our crews carry out guides our plans while ensuring we keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible in human spaceflight."

The shorter flight is unusual for these missions.

"The angle separation between space station and Dragon is very, very close, and that's just essentially orbital mechanics that got us in the right place," said Bill Gerstenmaier, vice president of Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX, during a prelaunch news conference Wednesday.

"There was a recent orbit adjustment maneuver done by space station, and that kind of set things up, and we just kind of got lucky that they line up and work out extremely well."

The crew will contribute to medical and agricultural research on the visit to the ISS.

"During the mission, the crew will help researchers treat heart disease and Parkinson's disease by studying human stem cell-derived tissues that can help improve medicine, disease modeling and pharmaceutical testing," said Dana Weigel, manager of NASA's Low Earth Orbit Program at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, on NASA's website.

"They also will explore crop production, which is important for longer-duration spaceflight missions, help us better understand blood flow abnormalities that we see in space, and test new diagnostic medical equipment for monitoring crew health."

The launch of the Crew-13 mission was delayed because of a mechanical issue discovered in August with an oxidizer leak in the spacecraft's propulsion system. It was discovered during environmental checks.

Kutryk brought a 100-year-old pocket watch aboard the flight, he told ABC. He is a fourth-generation Ukrainian Canadian, and the watch is a family heirloom.

"For me, it's really neat to look at that and reflect on just how much has changed in those 100 years, a little over 100 years," Kutryk said at a prelaunch news conference in August.

"If that's how much change [has happened] in the last hundred years, how much more could change if we do things right in the next hundred?"

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