Dragon cargo space capsule SpaceX arrives at International Space Station
The unmanned Dragon cargo capsule, built by the private spaceflight company SpaceX, was captured by astronauts wielding the space station's robotic arm at IST 16:00 as both spacecraft sailed 391 kilometres above Northern Ukraine, Space.com reported.
"Congratulations to the SpaceX and the Dragon team in Houston and in California," space station commander Kevin Ford, a NASA astronaut, radioed Mission Control after the successful Dragon arrival.
The Dragon space capsule is packed with 544 kilogrammes of supplies for the International Space Station, which includes fresh food, science experiments and other vital equipment.
SpaceX launched the Dragon capsule towards the space station on Friday with the spacecraft riding the company's Falcon 9 rocket into orbit.
While the launch was smooth, the Dragon capsule faced a brief technical glitch after it separated from the Falcon 9 rocket when three of four thruster pods did not activate as planned.
After several hours of troubleshooting, SpaceX engineers isolated the glitch to a pressurisation problem in the thruster system and devised a fix that solved the issue.
The spacecraft's arrival today appeared to go smoothly, with the capsule being captured by the station's robotic arm an hour earlier than scheduled.
"That was a brilliant capture," NASA astronaut Kate Rubins radioed the station crew from Mission Control in Houston.
The capsule is also carrying two grapple bars for the station's exterior inside an unpressurised "trunk" - a storage compartment in
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