Early Sunday morning at 4:31 CST, the astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured the supply ship Dragon launched Friday. They were using the station’s robotic arm. Dragon was berthed to the station at 7:56 AM CST. Power and pressurization is being completed. About 1,200 lbs of supplies and scientific equipment will be moved from it beginning Monday March 4. It will spend 22 days attached. Nearly 2,700 lbs of waste and investigation samples will return in Dragon. The samples will demonstrate how life in microgravity affects plant and animal growth, changes to the human body, semiconductor and detergent behavior, and much more. The following video was released Saturday showing the capture.
Dragon was launched Friday March 1 from the Cape on a Falcon 9 rocket. If you are into watching launches and the sequence of events from on-board cameras, here is a 10 minute video of it.
Falcon is a launch vehicle designed by built by Space X. Founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, their ultimate goal is to help get people to live on other planets. The company has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. It is scheduled for 10 more supply missions to the station. SpaceX also plans to carry crew members in the future. They are making the capsule Dragon ready for a crew with a $440 million contract with NASA. The company is also developing the Falcon Heavy. It will be the world’s most powerful rocket. One of their primary goals is to produce a system of reusable rockets and significantly lower costs of working in space.
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