SpaceX Dragon delivers the age of space freight
The commercial vehicles sector is officially now out of this world, with the historic first docking of the SpaceX Dragon to the International Space Station. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is now also the first space-bound privately-owned haulage company joining four governments – the United States, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency – in achieving this challenging technical feat. SpaceX said the […]
The ISS grapple arm reaches for the SpaceX Dragon
The commercial vehicles sector is officially now out of this world, with the historic first docking of the SpaceX Dragon to the International Space Station.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is now also the first space-bound privately-owned haulage company joining four governments – the United States, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency – in achieving this challenging technical feat.
SpaceX said the vehicle was grappled by the station’s robotic arm at 9:56 a.m. EST on the 25/5/2012.
“It was pulled in Dragon’s passive common berthing mechanism successfully attached to the orbiting laboratory at 12:02 PM Eastern,” said the company.
When asked for his initial thoughts on Dragon’s capture and his company’s move into the history books, SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk simply stated, “just awesome”.
This is SpaceX’s second demonstration flight under a 2006 Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement with NASA to develop the capability to carry cargo to and from the International Space Station.
“Demonstration launches are conducted to determine potential issues so that they might be addressed; by their very nature, they carry a significant risk,” said SpaceX.
