Demo-2 astronauts get to work on ISS

After making history on the first crewed flight of an orbital spacecraft launched from the United States in nearly nine years, two NASA astronauts are settling in on the International Space Station.

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley arrived at the ISS May 31, 19 hours after the Crew Dragon spacecraft they were on launched from the Kennedy Space Center. They will remain on the station for up to four months, joining the station’s crew of NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.

While Behnken and Hurley trained primarily to test SpaceX’s commercial crew spacecraft so that NASA can certify it for use on more routine missions, the shortfall in crew on the ISS mean the two will also be spending time helping out with station operations.

That work has already started, Cassidy said in a June 1 media event. “Today is day one, and they’re hitting the ground running, unloading the vehicle. We’ve got HTV right at our feet and we’ll be working in there in very short order.”

The H-2 Transfer Vehicle, or HTV, is a Japanese cargo spacecraft that launched to the ISS May 20 and was berthed to the station five days later. It carried several tons of cargo for the station.

The HTV also brought to the station a final set of new lithium-ion batteries for the station’s power system, whose installation requires a set of spacewalks. Both Behnken and Cassidy have spacewalk experience, and NASA is considering having them perform those spacewalks, or EVAs, in the next several weeks.

How long Behnken and Hurley will remain on the station is an open question. NASA officials say several factors go into that assessment, including the health of the Crew Dragon spacecraft as well as the readiness of the next such spacecraft, which NASA currently plans to launch Aug. 30 on a mission called Crew-1 with four astronauts from NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA on board.