Four new crew members arrive at the ISS in a Space X ship

Oct. 7 () –

Space X’s Dragon Endurance has transported astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina to the International Space Station.

After a 30-hour flight from Cape Canaveral, the crew of Space X Crew 5 opened the hatch at 22:49 UTC on Thursday, October 6 joining the Expedition 68 crew of NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, Frank Rubio and Jessica Watkins, ESA’s Samantha Cristoforetti, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, reports NASA.

Station Commander @AstroSamantha welcome the four @SpaceX #Crew5 members aboard the station as they join the Exp 68 crew for several months of @ISS_Research. pic.twitter.com/rTwfu5KWgn

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) October 7, 2022

Nicole Mann is the first Native American in space: a member of one of the Round Valley Indian tribes in California.

Kikina’s presence marks the first time a Russian cosmonaut has traveled aboard a Dragon spacecraft, and the first from the United States in 20 years. Since SpaceX began sending crews to the ISS, NASA and Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos have been working together on a crew swap deal. That has continued despite the deterioration in relations in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Crew 4 mission astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth later this month in their own Dragon capsule, which has been attached to the space station since their arrival.

Since 2020, Space X has contracted astronauts for NASA to the International Space Station.