A SpaceX vessel carrying four astronauts has docked with the International Space Station (ISS).
The Dragon capsule called “Resilience” by it’s crew launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and took 27 hours to reach the ISS in the early hours of Tuesday morning (UK time).
The three American and one Japanese astronauts on board the craft will stay among the stars until April 2021.
The Dragon capsule docked with the ISS after a 27-hour voyage
ISS astronaut Kate Rubins said “Oh, what a good voice to hear” when she first made radio contact with the Dragon’s commander Mike Hopkins.
The mission is the first crewed NASA flight to space aboard a privately built vessel, with Elon Musk’s SpaceX developing the capsule.
When a replacement crew is sent to the ISS in April, they too will ride aboard a SpaceX ship.
Boeing is also set to start providing transport for NASA in the future.
Commander Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi
Mr Hopkins is joined by physicist Shannon Walker and Navy commander Victor Glover, who will be the first black astronaut to spend an extended period of time on board the ISS.
Commander Glover will also be making his first ever trip to the ISS, while the others have called the station home before.
Soichi Noguchi, an aeronautical engineer from Japan, is also on board, and is the third person in history to orbit on three different kinds of spacecraft.
A crew of two Russians and another American were already aboard the ISS.