‘Dragon’ delivers supplies to astronauts
SPACEX’S unmanned “Dragon” cargo ship arrived yesterday at the International Space Station, carrying food and supplies for the astronauts living in orbit.
European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti grappled the capsule with the space station’s robotic arm at 6:55am as the space station flew over the northern Pacific to the east of Japan, NASA said.
“Houston, capture is complete,” said NASA astronaut Terry Virts, after high-fiving Cristoforetti in the space station’s cupola.
“Samantha did a perfect job grappling ‘Dragon,’” he said.
The cargo ship was expected to move closer to the space station and complete its latch-on later yesterday.
Its contents include an espresso machine, ready-made food packets, and a host of science experiments to study changes in vision, muscle and bones that astronauts experience while in zero gravity.
SpaceX launched the cargo ship on Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States, on its sixth official mission under a US$1.6 billion contract with NASA for a dozen trips to supply the space station.
“Dragon” made history in 2012, when it became the first commercial cargo ship to reach the space station.
Previously, only government-built spaceships from Europe, Japan and Russia were able to make the journey.
US-made space shuttles were big enough to carry cargo along with astronauts, but the program was retired in 2011.
“Dragon,” however, was designed to carry astronauts, and the California-based company, which is headed by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, is currently working on upgrades that should allow the first crew flight to take place within the next few years.
Boeing is also working on a spaceship to ferry astronauts to space, called the CST-100, which is scheduled for its first manned flight in 2017.
Until then, the world’s astronauts must rely on Russia’s Soyuz capsules for transport to the research outpost.
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