SpaceX capsule reaches International Space station
Print Edition
A SPACEX Dragon capsule wrapped up a two-day journey to the International Space Station yesterday, the first US cargo run to the orbital outpost in four months, a NASA TV broadcast showed.
Astronauts working inside the station used a robotic crane to pluck the capsule from orbit at 5:54am as the spaceships sailed 422 kilometers over the Mediterranean Sea. “We’re excited to have it on board,” station commander Butch Wilmore radioed to Mission Control in Houston.
Dragon became the first US cargo ship to reach the station following a launch accident in October that claimed an Orbital Sciences Corp Cygnus capsule.
Orbital and SpaceX have NASA contracts worth a combined US$3.5 billion for station resupply missions.
Privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, the company’s official name, had planned to follow Orbital’s mission in December, but delayed the launch to review a potential problem with its Falcon 9 rocket. The booster successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Saturday.
After sending the Dragon cargo ship on its way to orbit, the discarded rocket turned around and attempted to land itself on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean located northeast of the launch site.
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