The population of the International Space Station grew from seven to 11 on Monday morning with the arrival of the private Axiom Space crew that launched from Kennedy Space Center.
The Ax-2 crew commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson docked with the ISS on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom at 9:12 a.m. after a 15-hour flight since lifting off from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 5:37 p.m. Sunday.
“That’s the fastest docking I’ve ever had,” Whitson said during the automated maneuver. Whitson, who is now Axiom Space’s Director of Human Spaceflight, had previously flown three times to space on both space shuttles and Russian Soyuz spacecraft. She already held the record for an American in space with 665 days logged, and is now adding on at least 10 more for the Ax-2 mission.
