[singlepic=340,180,,left]The Dragon cargo ferry only visited us for a short time. It left after a week. But it was an impressive mission for me personally, as I helped dock and later detach it from the Space Station. It was an impressive mission also for the thousands of people on Earth who worked on Dragon and indeed for the whole of humankind. Many people might not realise it but this mission is a milestone for space history. I was unloading equipment from the Dragon and looked behind one of the storage racks. I had already seen the Dragon capsule in an assembly hall in California and I knew what I would see: a window! This is the future. This space craft will be transporting four people to and from space in about three years’ time.

Commercial

SpaceX, an American, commercial company builds the Dragons. Think about what this means. A private company will assist spaceflight and no longer only government agencies. Soon tourists will buy tickets to sleep in a space hotel. Sounds like science fiction? I saw a glimpse of the future here in space. These times are coming! Of course we must work together to ensure that spaceflight will be safe and that the environment does not suffer… Inside Dragon it was quiet, well lit and roomy. White and blue led lights cast a glow on the equipment racks. Clearly a different style compared with the current modules on the ISS, especially compared to the Russian segment that looks as if it was from the seventies era. Dragon uses lots of plastic and less metal. It has a beautiful golden hatch. The ship reminded me of a science fiction film. Maybe because it is built in Los Angeles…

Tour…

One of the things I wanted to do during my mission was take pictures of the Space Station interior. I will start with a tour of the Russian part of the Space Station. Here are the photos: