At 19:45 Beijing time on May 2, 2024, the Crew-8 "Dragon" manned spacecraft will be unlocked and separated from the forward port of the "Harmony" node module of the International Space Station, and then fly around and dock at the zenith port of the "Harmony" module at 20:28. The purpose of this roundaround docking operation is to free up forward docking ports for the CFT "Interstellar Flight" manned spacecraft.
According to the plan, at 10:34 Beijing time on May 7 (22:34 EST on May 6), the board will be carried by Barry · Barry E. Wilmore and Sunita Lyn Williams' CFT Starliner manned spacecraft will be launched and docked at the forward port of the Harmony module at 12:48 p.m. on May 8. Since NASA has only approved the CFT Starflight spacecraft to dock with the forward port of the Harmony module, the spacecraft's current docking spacecraft has had to relinquish this port for it.
Before the orbit docked, the Crew-8 crew consisted of four astronauts, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Aleksandr Grebenkin will be put on an in-cabin pressure suit to board the spacecraft, which is arranged so that the astronauts can safely return to Earth on the spacecraft in the extreme event that the spacecraft does not dock. At present, the four astronauts have completed the review and training of the spacecraft orbiting and docking procedures.
Author: Mulan Xingzhou