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full screen The Dragon spacecraft began its journey towards the International Space Station on Thursday evening. Photo: Chris O’Meara/AP/TT
After a little more than an hour in orbit around the Earth, the first words came from Swedish astronaut Marcus Wandt on the Dragon spacecraft.
– Hello everyone. Absolutely wonderful to be in space, Wandt began in Swedish.
He describes the successful postponement as a fantastic journey.
– I expected a lot but I didn’t really expect that feeling of acceleration and speed. It was amazing. Pure joy, Wandt continued in the broadcast to Earth via the organizer Axiom.
All of the crew are doing well after Thursday evening’s launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the United States, the space capsule commander Michael López-Alegría confirmed at the same time.
The ISS was on the other side of the globe when the Dragon spacecraft was launched. The mission of the space capsule is now to catch up with the space station before it can dock with it. It is expected to take place at 11.15 on Saturday.
Marcus Wandt is the third Swede in space.
FACT Sweden’s new astronaut
Marcus Wandt, 43, grew up in Hammarö in Värmland but lives in Linköping. He was selected in November 2022 from over 22,500 applicants for a new astronaut group of 17 in total.
He is a former paratrooper, fighter pilot and trained electrical engineer. Wandt also passed the officer program at Karlberg and is chief test pilot for the Gripen at Saab.
Marcus Wandt is a mission specialist on Axiom Mission 3. The organizer is Axiom Space, which cooperates with the US space agency Nasa and Elon Musk’s company Space X.
The trip will last up to two weeks.
Sources: The Swedish Space Agency, Esa and Axiom
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