SpaceX's Crew-8 astronauts move Dragon at the ISS to make way for Boeing's Starliner

Dragon approaches the ISS during a redocking mission on May 2
Dragon approaches the ISS during a redocking mission on May 2 (Image credit: NASA)

The four astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-8 mission moved their Dragon capsule to a different port at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday morning (May 2).

The operation was to make way for Boeing's Starliner capsule, which will arrive at the ISS on May 8.

The Dragon, named Endeavour, began undocking from the forward-facing port of the station's Harmony module on Thursday at 8:52 a.m. EDT (1252 GMT). Endeavour autonomously docked with Harmony's space-facing port, Zenith, at 9:46 a.m. EDT (1346 GMT). 

Read more: SpaceX Crew-8 astronaut mission: Live updates 

The relocation operation was delayed by around an hour due to communication issues with the capsule.

The Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour is seen docked at the International Space Station on SpaceX's Crew-8 astronaut mission to the International Space Station. (Image credit: NASA TV)

The maneuver opened up Harmony's forward-facing port for Boeing's Starliner capsule, which is scheduled to launch on its first-ever crewed mission on Monday (May 6).

The Dragon Endeavour space capsule 60 meters from the ISS on May 2 as it moves to make way for Starliner

The Dragon Endeavour space capsule 60 meters from the ISS on May 2 as it moves to make way for Starliner (Image credit: NASA)

That Starliner mission, known as Crew Flight Test, will send NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS for a roughly 10-day stay.

SpaceX's Crew-8 launched to the orbiting lab on March 3. As its name suggests, Crew-8 is the eighth operational crewed mission that SpaceX has flown to the ISS for NASA. Its four crewmates are NASA's Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeannette Epps and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, who will live aboard the station for six months.

Thursday's move marked the first time Dominick, Barratt, Epps and Grebenkin all climbed aboard Endeavour. 

This was the fourth such relocation for a crewed Dragon capsule at the ISS, after similar maneuvers during the Crew-1, Crew-2, and Crew-6 missions, NASA officials wrote in an update..

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Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.