SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule docks with the ISS

Their stay is expected to last approximately six months. A crew of four, including a Russian, launched by NASA and SpaceX aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday, August 2. SpaceX confirmed their arrival on social media, with a video showing contact with the ISS at 8:27 a.m. (Paris time), high above the southeastern Pacific Ocean.

American astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov blasted off Friday morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida . Their capsule was mounted on a Falcon 9 rocket.

This is the eleventh crew rotation mission to the ISS under NASA's Commercial Crew program, created to succeed the Space Shuttle era by partnering with private industry.

"We have cold drinks, hot food, and we're waiting for you. See you soon," the ISS crew told the new arrivals shortly after contact, according to the video posted online. "Hello, space station, Crew-11 is here and we're very happy to join you," Mike Fincke replied.

During its six-month mission, Crew-11 will simulate lunar landing scenarios that could occur near the lunar south pole as part of the U.S.-led Artemis program to return to the Moon. They will also test the effects of gravity on astronauts' ability to pilot spacecraft, including future lunar landers.

Permanently inhabited since 2000, the ISS, a flying laboratory, serves as a vital testbed for space exploration research, particularly for potential missions to Mars. Crew-11 also has Armenian pomegranates on board, which will be compared to a control batch back on Earth to study the influence of microgravity on crop growth.

A model of international cooperation bringing together Europe, Japan, the United States, and Russia, the ISS began assembly in 1998. Its retirement was scheduled for 2024, but NASA estimated that it could operate until 2030.