A robotic arm on the International Space Station ISS has grabbed and attached the Dragon supply vessel. The arm pulled the ship into a free berthing port on the underside of the orbiting platform. Dragon has been built by the California firm SpaceX and is carrying half a tonne of food and other stores for the ISS astronauts.
It is the first time a private sector company has delivered freight to the station. The high-flying laboratorys Canadarm2 was controlled by US spaceman Don Petit from inside the ISS.He grabbed the capsule at 13:56 GMT 14:56 BST. “Houston, looks like we got us a Dragon by the tail,” he radioed to Nasa mission Control in Texas .The capture was met by applause from controllers, at the Nasa centre and at the SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, California, where Dragons flight is also being overseen.
Just under two hours later, Petit used the arm to position the Dragon under the ISSs Harmony connecting node. A good seal was confirmed at 16:02 GMT 17:02 BST. The ISS crew will go inside the ship on Saturday to unload its stores.
via Station grabs SpaceX Dragon ship.
