Most spacecraft docked to a space station

The most spacecraft docked or berthed to the International Space Station (ISS) simultaneously is eight, achieved between 27 November 2025 (arrival of Soyuz MS-28) and 9 December 2025 (departure of Soyuz MS-27). During this time, all eight of the docking and berthing ports on the ISS were occupied for the first time. On the Russian side, in addition to Soyuz MS-27 and MS-28, there were also two cargo ships – Progress 92 and Progress 93. On the NASA/ESA/JAXA side of the station, the ports were occupied by Crew Dragon Endeavour and Cargo Dragon C211 (both operated by SpaceX) as well as the HTV-X1 (operated by the Japanese Space Agency) and Cygnus NG-23 William "Willie" C. McCool (operated by Northrop Grumman).

In space-station operations, a distinction is made between "docking", in which a spacecraft makes a controlled approach to a docking port under its own power and guidance, and "berthing", in which a spacecraft makes a close rendezvous with the station under its own power, and is then grappled by the space station's robotic arm and placed in a docking port. The ISS has six ports configured for docking, and two (both on the NASA side of the station) configured for berthing. The berthing system allows for cargo vehicles such as the Northrop Grumman Cygnus to be made more cheaply and quickly, as they don't need the complex avionics and testing required for docking operations.