Stargazers across Nottinghamshire flocked outside on Saturday night (May 30) in a bid to catch a glimpse of the International Space Station and historic SpaceX rocket launch.
Billionaire Elon Musk's private spaceflight company had teamed up with NASA to become the first commercial company to launch astronauts into orbit, but its first launch was scrubbed due to adverse weather on Wednesday, May 27.
However, on Saturday, May 30 at 8.22pm (UK time) SpaceX made history as astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken were blasted into orbit.
The pair docked with the space station between 3.16pm and 3.30pm (UK time) today (May 31) after manually using the craft's thrusters, and it attached to a port on the station’s Harmony module.
Mr Hurley and Mr Behnken will join the three other astronauts, NASA's Chris Cassidy and Russia’s Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, to become members of the Expedition 63 crew.
During a post-launch conference, Mr Musk said: "This is something that should really get people right in the heart, of anyone who has any spirit of exploration.
"It’s something that humanity should be excited about and proud of occurring on this day."
When did the ISS and Dragon pass over last night?
While the first flight of the Falcon 9 rocket was not visible in Nottinghamshire due to high light levels, it made a second pass later in the evening.
This pass was superseded by the International Space Station, which graced the dimming night sky at around 22.11pm.
People across the county managed to capture the ISS, which was remarkably bright as it made its pass travelling at a relative 17,500mph.
It appeared just above the southwest horizon and flew under the moon.
The Dragon capsule was much harder to spot as it made its pass at around 22.16pm.
It trailed a few minutes later as Mr Behnken and Mr Hurley made their 19-hour journey to catch up with the space station.
Adding to the confusion, what is believed to have been a rogue polar satellite appeared southeast and travelled north, eventually passing over the moon at around the same time.
For those who caught this, it was not unfortunately the Dragon capsule, which appeared momentarily and was difficult to spot at around 10 degrees above the horizon.
It would have required a completely unobscured horizon to see.
British Astronaut Tim Peake said: "How cool was that? A lovely space station pass followed a few minutes later by a much fainter but clearly visible SpaceX."
Gary Thrall, of Nottingham, sent in the featured video which he believes shows the SpaceX Crew Dragon in the sky as it makes a much lower pass than the ISS before it.
Can I see the Crew Dragon and ISS pass over again?
Because the Crew Dragon is now attached to the ISS, they will orbit together.
Tonight (May 31), it will be a daylight flyby and much harder to spot, but it may be possible says VirtualAstro and Meteor Watch.
Look up towards the west at 21.23pm, and the ISS will make a pass under the moon, eventually vanishing into the southeastern horizon at around 21.30pm.
It will be easier to see tomorrow (June 1) at around 22.13, when it will pass from west-southwest and go into the Earth's shadow at south-southwest.
What happens next?
The Dragon capsule has now docked with the ISS and Mr Hurley and Mr Behnken will now spend roughly 110 days in space.
The aim of the Demo-2 mission is to show SpaceX's ability to ferry astronauts to the space station and back safely.
It is the final major step required by SpaceX's astronaut carrier, the Crew Dragon, to get certified by NASA's Commercial Crew Programme for more long-term manned missions to space.
Since ending its Space Shuttle programme in 2011, NASA has depended on Russia's space agency Roscosmos to transport its astronauts to the space station.
Once the Crew Dragon touches down in the Atlantic Ocean safely in a few months time, the mission will be complete.
