"Hello Space Station": Images of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule docking with the ISS

A crew of four, including a Russian, aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule docked with the International Space Station ( ISS ) on Saturday, where they will stay for about six months.

"Docking has been confirmed," SpaceX posted on social media, along with a video showing contact with the ISS at 06:27 GMT, high above the southeastern Pacific Ocean.

American astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov blasted off Friday morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, their capsule mounted on a Falcon 9 rocket.

This is the eleventh crew rotation mission to the ISS under NASA's Commercial Crew program, created to succeed the Space Shuttle era by partnering with private industry.

"We have cold drinks, hot food, and we're waiting for you. See you soon," the ISS crew told the new arrivals shortly after contact, according to the video posted online. "Hello space station, Crew-11 is here, and we're very happy to be joining you," Mike Fincke replied.

During its six-month mission, Crew-11 will simulate lunar landing scenarios that could occur near the lunar south pole as part of the U.S.-led Artemis program to return to the Moon.

They will also test the effects of gravity on astronauts' ability to pilot spacecraft, including future lunar landers. Continuously inhabited since 2000, the ISS, a flying laboratory, serves as a vital testbed for space exploration research, including potential missions to Mars.

Crew-11 also has on board fruit, Armenian pomegranates, which will be compared to a control batch left on Earth in order to study the influence of microgravity on crop growth.

A model of international cooperation bringing together Europe, Japan, the United States, and Russia, the ISS began assembly in 1998. Its retirement was scheduled for 2024, but NASA estimated that it could operate until 2030.