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CAP CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – The most experienced astronaut in SpaceX’s newly launched crew said Thursday that riding a Dragon capsule into orbit was like being inside the real Mythical Beast, and a lot more fun than NASA shuttles or Russian flights.
As for the space crew recruit, he pulled more G, or forces of gravity, from flying fighter jets in the Navy, but they didn’t last as long as on his first “impressive rocket launch.” “, did he declare.
SpaceX delivered its second crew of astronauts to the International Space Station late Monday evening, just 27 hours after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
In their first press conference from orbit, the four astronauts described Sunday night’s launch and their first impressions of the space station, their new home until spring.
Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi – who has only become the third person to board three types of spacecraft – said that “the Dragon is the best short answer.” He said the Dragon “really wanted to go to space,” which he could feel as the Falcon 9 rocket was powered up minutes before takeoff and later into launch as the thrusters fired right in front of his seat. window.
“It’s like you’re actually inside a dragon that brings us into space, so it was quite a feeling,” he told reporters.
Victor Glover, the crew’s pilot for the first time in space, said the G-forces gradually developed after the start of the second stage of the rocket.
“In a fighter, you can’t hold 4G for several minutes, most planes can’t,” Glover noted. “I could feel this for a few seconds. But to have this for an extended period of time was just amazing.
Once in orbit, “it’s surreal,” he added. “I saw tons of photos. But when I first looked at Earth from the window, it’s hard to describe. There are no words … It was an incredible feeling, once in a lifetime.
The astronauts named their capsule Resilience to give hope not only amid the pandemic, but also the civil and political unrest of the year.
“I hope that makes people look up literally and figuratively,” said Glover, a naval commander who became the first African American to settle full-time on the space station.
The astronauts chose a little plush baby Yoda as their weightlessness indicator for the same reason – “when you see it, it’s hard not to smile,” said Commander Mike Hopkins. The team had started watching the Disney and “Star Wars” television series, “The Mandalorian,” starring Baby Yoda.
“The trip into space was probably a little more difficult than what Baby Yoda was used to,” Hopkins said.
The SpaceX crew – which also includes Shannon Walker – joined another American and two Russians at the orbiting outpost. This is the first time that the space station has simultaneously had seven long-term crew members, which should boost scientific output.
A reporter asked: does it feel crowded?
“It’s very busy. There is energy here, ”said NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, who arrived on a Russian Soyuz capsule a month ago.
NASA turned to SpaceX and Boeing to transport astronauts to the space station from the United States after the shuttle fleet withdrew in 2011, reducing America’s costly reliance on Russian rockets. Boeing is still several months away from launching a crew.
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The Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science receives support from the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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