经过近24小时的太空飞行，美国东部时间周六凌晨，SpaceX“龙”飞船“奋进号”载着4名宇航员成功在国际空间站对接。
据悉，此次发射原定于当地时间周四早晨进行，但由于火箭飞行路线沿线天气不佳，SpaceX和美国宇航局（NASA）将“猎鹰9号”火箭发射时间推迟了24小时，于美东时间上午5点49分搭载升空。随着NASA开启商业载人项目，这已经是与SpaceX建立的新合作伙伴关系下的第二次载人飞行。此前美国本土航天事业曾陷入停滞，随后NASA开始谋求与私营公司进行合作。A recycled SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule with four astronauts aboard on Saturday docked at the International Space Station (ISS) after a flight of over 23 hours.The Dragon capsule docked autonomously with the orbiting outpost more than 260 miles (420 kilometers) above the Indian Ocean.NASA and SpaceX launched the astronauts early on Friday in the third crewed mission of the U.S. commercial rocket company in less than a year.这次“奋进号”的再次使用，也是有史以来首次使用回收的载人航天器执行航天任务。2020年5月，“奋进”号曾搭载2名美国宇航员前往国际空间站执行SpaceX的商业载人测试任务(Demo-2)，并已于同年8月回到地球。在进行二次利用之前，SpaceX更换了飞船上的一些阀门和热屏蔽，并安装了新的降落伞。此次载人航天之旅由NASA、日本宇宙航空研究开发机构(JAXA)和欧洲航天局(ESA)的宇航员共同完成，搭乘的4名太空“旅客”包括2名美国宇航员、1名日本宇航员和 1名欧洲宇航员，他们将在国际空间站上生活大约6个月，开展多项科学实验。NASA表示，此次研究将为更长时间、更远距离的深空探索做准备。迎来新一批宇航员后，空间站的人数首次达到了11人，他们会共度近5天时间。这也意味着有两艘商业载人“龙”飞船同时停靠在空间站。随后，其中一艘飞船将搭载去年11月被送往国际空间站执行“Crew-1”任务的4名宇航员回到地球。
Although this was SpaceX's third crew flight for NASA, it was the first to use a vehicle that's flown before, an essential part of Musk's push to the moon and Mars. The Dragon capsule was used for SpaceX's first crew launch last May, while the Falcon rocket soaring Friday hoisted Crew-2 in November.For the next four days, the space station will be home to 11 astronauts, just shy of the record of 13 set during NASA's space shuttle era. The current population includes six Americans, two Russians, two Japanese and one French. It will shrink by four on Wednesday when three Americans and one Japanese depart for home and a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.They will conduct science and maintenance during a six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory and will return no earlier than October 31, according to NASA. They will also replace four astronauts who will return to Earth in their own Dragon capsule Wednesday.It was the first time two SpaceX crew Dragons were parked there at the same time – practically side by side. "We are so excited to have you aboard," radioed the space station's commander, Shannon Walker.