Three American astronauts and a Russian astronaut arrived on Tuesday at the International Space Station, as part of the usual crew rotation aboard the flight laboratory.
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They will stay there for approximately six months, and are scheduled to conduct more than 200 scientific experiments during their stay.
They took off from Florida on Sunday evening aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
On Tuesday, their capsule docked with the International Space Station and its door opened at 3:50 a.m. EST (8:50 a.m. GMT), allowing them to enter the station with a big smile on their faces.
This is the eighth regular crew rotation mission for the International Space Station carried out by SpaceX for NASA. Hence the name of their mission: Crew-8.
American Michael Barratt is the only Crew-8 astronaut to have actually visited the International Space Station. However, this is a first for Americans Matthew Dominick and Janet Epps, as well as Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebyunkin.
Seven people were already on board the International Space Station before their arrival.
After a delivery period of a few days with the four crew members — an American, a Dane, a Japanese, and a Russian — they will return to Earth aboard another SpaceX capsule.
NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which together manage the International Space Station, have established an astronaut exchange program, in which each takes turns flying a crew member from the other country.
This program has been maintained despite the war in Ukraine, and the ISS is now one of the very few subjects of cooperation between Washington and Moscow.
