NASA astronauts describe SpaceX’s historic trip to the International Space Station

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken have described their historic trip to the International Space Station in SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavor capsule.

During a press conference on Monday morning, Behnken said the first stage of their climb was smoother than they had experienced on the shuttle missions, but described the second stage as “a little tougher.” However, Behnken noted that both he and Hurley expected that.

“We were both commenting on it while going uphill,” he explained.

Hurley also described coupling your capsule with the international space station.

“We didn’t feel the coupling, it’s so smooth and we did it,” he said. “On the shuttle, we feel the docking.”

The two astronauts, both veterans of the space shuttle missions, boarded the orbiting space laboratory Next sunday the expected launch from the Kennedy Space Center mission Demo-2 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The mission is the first time that astronauts have launched from US soil since the last space shuttle flight in 2011.

Behnken and Hurley made the journey in new specially designed SpaceX spacesuits that replaced the bulkier spacesuits from previous missions.

“For both Doug and us, we would have to give the suits a 5-star rating,” added Behnken.

Upon arrival on the ISS, the astronauts were warmly greeted by fellow NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, commander of Space Station Expedition 63, and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.

The length of his stay on the Space Station has yet to be determined.

Associated Press contributed to this article.