 Astronauts have just finished installing the new International Docking Adapter to the outside of the International Space Station. And that means that private spacecraft now have a place to hook up to the orbiting lab. The International Docking Adapter, or IDA, is a key piece of hardware for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. That's where private companies build and operate spacecraft that can take astronauts to and from the ISS. Currently, NASA astronauts have to fly on Russian vehicles to get to the station. But with Commercial Crew, American astronauts will be flying to space on American-made vehicles again. SpaceX and Boeing are the two companies working on those vehicles for NASA at the moment. SpaceX is developing this, a modified version of its Dragon cargo capsule called Crew Dragon. And Boeing is creating this, the CSD-100 Starliner. When those vehicles finally launch to the space station, they'll be able to hook up to the docking adapter. This is huge for Commercial Crew because without the International Docking Adapter, there's no way for these Commercial Crew vehicles to actually come to the space station and dock and do the crew transfer. A critical aspect of the IDA is that it allows vehicles to automatically dock with the space station. Right now, incoming cargo spacecraft from SpaceX or Orbital ATK don't actually dock. They berth. Astronauts use the station's robotic arm to grab the spacecraft and pull it close to one of the ports on the ISS. It's something that takes up a lot of the astronauts' time. With the new IDA, the station's crew doesn't have to be involved with the docking process at all. The adapter has a suite of onboard sensors that help an incoming spacecraft guide itself into the port. The IDA then has a set of 12 hooks that latch onto the vehicle and dock it to the ISS. Theoretically, when they're coming in, it's a hands-off. We let this thing come in and dock on its own. That's the plan. Of course, there'll still be a capability to do a manual dock if something were to go wrong. The plan is for both of our providers, both of our partners, is use the International Docking Adapter and just hands off it, come on in and dock itself up. The installation of this IDA was extra important, since it was actually meant to be the second adapter installed on the station. The first one was slated to go up in June of 2015, but that didn't really work out. The adapter was destroyed when the SpaceX Falcon 9 that was carrying it disintegrated during launch. SpaceX made up for that incident by successfully launching this IDA in July of 2016. But NASA's plans were still thrown off slightly. Our plan had been to have both International Docking Adapters on the ISS before the first commercial crew launch. However, it wasn't required that we have both of them there. It was just a desire to make sure the space station was properly configured for them. The first commercial crew launches are slated for 2017, but it's possible that only one IDA will be available on the station when that happens. NASA said it is hoping to send up another IDA before the first launches get underway. That may not be the case, depending on how schedules line up. But eventually, two IDAs will be needed when commercial crew gets into full swing. In the future, NASA wants to be able to do something called a direct crew handover. That's where two commercial vehicles are docked with the ISS at the same time, allowing an incoming crew to hang out briefly with an outgoing crew. And NASA's going to need two adapters for that. Plus, if there's only one IDA installed, incoming spacecraft won't have an alternative docking option if that adapter fails. Once we get to a point where we've got multiple commercial crew providers flying, then we need both international docking adapters. But once those two adapters are fully installed, that will be a big step toward NASA's plans of opening up the ISS to more private companies. The IDAs have been built to the International Docking System Standard. It's an international standard for how to build spacecraft docking systems. Anyone that wants to build a spacecraft to dock with the ISS can download the specs for the standard online. That means that more private companies, beyond just SpaceX and Boeing, could potentially hook up to these IDAs someday. Up to this point, it's really been a very small club of spaceflight participants. To date, there's only been three entities that have ever docked human vehicles in space, be China, U.S. and Russia. By doing this and putting the standard out there, we're now opening it up to commercial entities and other non-traditional countries to participate in this and build a docking system, design a docking system. Want to know how this international docking adapter got to the ISS? Check out our video on what it's like to watch a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch and then land. Or if you're curious to know how space will affect future commercial crew members, check out our video on what microgravity did to Scott Kelly's body.