A livestream showed the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour docking with the International Space Station (ISS) early Saturday.

The first phase of docking (soft capture) - occurred at 5:08am Eastern time (0908 GMT), 264 miles (424 kilometers) over the south Indian Ocean. Hard capture, which was the second stage, occurred about 10 minutes later, when 12 hooks were securely attached between Endeavour and the ISS's forward port.

"Hard capture complete, welcome Crew-2," told US astronaut Shannon Walker, current commander of the ISS.

"Thanks Shannon, we're glad to be here, we'll see you all in a few minutes," replied Endeavour's commander, US astronaut Shane Kimbrough.

According to an India Today report, the Crew-2 mission, which includes the first European, Thomas Pesquet of France, blasted off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida before dawn on Friday.

Being Endeavour's second trip to the International Space Station, it is carrying the third crew to the ISS, as part of the company's multibillion dollar contract with NASA. It first flew there on the Demo-2 mission in May 2020, which ended almost a decade of US reliance on Russia for rides to the ISS following the end of the Space Shuttle program.

In addition, Friday marked the first time SpaceX incorporated a recycled capsule and rocket to launch astronauts for Nasa, after years of proving the capability on station supply runs. The rocket was used last November on the company’s second astronaut flight.

Image courtesy: NASA/ Getty images