UAE Astronaut and Crew-6 Mates to Reach ISS Ahead of Schedule

The SpaceX Crew-6 will reach the International Space Station (ISS) ahead of the scheduled time because the four astronauts aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour will dock at ISS at 9:43 a.m., tweeted Space X on Friday.

At the press briefing that was held two hours after liftoff,  Senior Director of the Human Spaceflight Program at SpaceX Benji Reed said that everything was in order for Friday's docking. There had been an issue with a hook microsensor aboard the Crew Dragon; it had shown an anomaly, which was eventually fixed. 

When the spacecraft will arrive at the space station, it will autonomously dock at the forward-facing port of the Harmony module. 

The average distance between ISS and Earth is around 400 km. The ISS can be closest to the earth at 370 km or farthest at around 460 km. 

The trip to ISS is not smooth because the microgravity laboratory is orbiting Earth every 90 minutes at a velocity of 28,000 kph. The journey to the space station also includes a series of rocket burns or engine firings that have to be precisely timed to achieve the right orbit. 

The previous operational crew flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft Space X Crew 5 reached the ISS after 29 hours. 

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