HOUSTON — Caribou native Jessica Meir's lifelong dream came true Wednesday when she and two others launched into space.
After a four-orbit, six-hour journey through space, Soyuz MS-15 finally docked at its destination, the International Space Station.
Meir's reaction upon arriving and entering the intergovernmental, orbiting research laboratory at 6:12 p.m. is priceless.
The crew was greeted by station commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov.
Soyuz MS-15 blasted off from the the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:57 a.m. ET Wednesday. It docked at the ISS at 3:42 p.m.
Meir served as the spaceflight's primary flight engineer. Roscosmos' Oleg Skripochka, in his third spaceflight, was commander, while Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the UAE, a participant, took secondary flight engineer duties.
NASA's Morgan was tasked with assisting in the landing from the ISS.
Meir is part of Expedition 61, which includes six crew members from Soyuz MS-12, Soyuz MS-13 and Soyuz MS-15, commanded by ESA's Parmitano.
Soyuz MS-15's arrival increases the ISS' population to nine until Oct. 3, at which time Hague, Ovchinin and Almansoori will return to Earth on the Soyuz MS-12's spacecraft. Hague and Ovchinin are completing a mission of 200-plus days.
Meir and Skripochka will spend more than six months in space.
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