At a Glance

It was the first U.S. astronaut launch to orbit from home soil in nearly a decade. Astronauts Hurley and Behnken named the crew capsule Endeavour after the space shuttle.They could be aboard the station one to four months.

The ringing of a ship's bell marked yet another historic moment Sunday in the groundbreaking mission of astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken.

As Hurley and Behnken crawled through the hatch of the SpaceX Dragon crew capsule shortly after 1 p.m. ET, astronaut Chris Cassidy greeted them by ringing the bell aboard the International Space Station.

The Dragon successfully docked with the space station about 19 hours after being Saturday afternoon from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It was the nation’s first astronaut launch to orbit from home soil in nearly a decade. It was also the first time a privately built and owned spacecraft carried astronauts to the space station.

(MORE: Astronauts Liftoff as Weather Clears at Kennedy Space Center)

”Congratulations on a phenomenal accomplishment and welcome to the International Space Station,” SpaceX Mission Control radioed from Hawthorne, California.

In addition to Cassidy, Russian flight engineers Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner greeted Hurley and Behnken with hugs and handshakes.

This photo provided by NASA shows Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, far right, joining the the crew at the International Space Station, after the SpaceX Dragon capsule pulled up to the station and docked Sunday, May 31, 2020. The Dragon capsule arrived Sunday morning, hours after a historic liftoff from Florida. It's the first time that a privately built and owned spacecraft has delivered a crew to the orbiting lab.

(NASA via AP)

Hurley appeared to have bumped his head as he entered the space station. He could be seen wiping his forehead with a tissue.

Hours after launching Saturday, Hurley and Behnken announced they had named the crew capsule Endeavour after the retired NASA space shuttle.

“We chose Endeavour for a few reasons — one because of this incredible endeavor NASA, SpaceX and the United States have been on since the end of the shuttle program back in 2011," Hurley said.

“The other reason we named it Endeavour is a little more personal to Bob and I,” Hurley continued. “We both had our first flights on shuttle Endeavour, and it just meant so much for us to carry on that name.”

Hurley and Behnken will spend one to four months aboard the space station where they'll join the other astronauts in performing experiments and possibly spacewalks to install fresh station batteries, according to The Associated Press.

An old-style capsule splashdown off the coast of Florida is planned for their return to Earth.