SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station today (30 August) to deliver an experimental robotic arm, as well as a variety of supplies and equipment for research. This was just in time for one astronaut’s birthday.
"Congratulations NASA and SpaceX teams. Many thanks. After docking, Megan McArthur, a NASA astronaut, radioed Mission Control to express her gratitude. Today is her 50th birthday.
NASA's Mission Control in Houston said, "That's a very excellent birthday gift."
At 10:30 AM EDT (1430 GMT), the Dragon, a gumdrop-shaped object, docked with Harmony module of the station. This ended a 32-hour-long orbital chase. The Dragon and station were sailing at 264 miles (425 km) above western Australia.
Video: SpaceX's Dragon CRs23 cargo ship launches into space
Related: SpaceX's Dragon Space capsule (infographic).
Image 1 of 3 SpaceX’s Dragon CRS-23 cargo vessel is captured with a brightly colored Earth as a backdrop by an International Space Station camera during its docking approach on August 30, 2021. (Image credit NASA) Image 2: A camera from the International Space Station captures 3 SpaceX's Dragon CRS-23 cargo vessel with a brightly colored Earth as a backdrop during its docking approach on August 30, 2021. (Image credit NASA) Image 3 of 3 SpaceX’s Dragon CRS-23 cargo vessel is captured with a bright-blue Earth as a backdrop by an International Space Station camera during its docking approach, Aug. 30, 2021. NASA image credit
Dragon was launched from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday morning (Aug. 29,). This launch marked the 23rd robotic resupply mission by SpaceX to the orbiting laboratory for NASA. The Dragon, which is uncrewed, weighs in at more than 4,800 pounds. (2,200 kg) of supplies and scientific experiment, including a new super-dexterous robotic arm that will perform a microgravity test in the orbiting laboratory.
Team members described the experiment as the GITAI S1 robotic arm tech demo. They wrote that "this investigation supports the development of robots for crew intravehicular and, eventually extravehicular activity." Space robotics could also be used to support on-orbit assembly, manufacturing, and servicing tasks. This would lower the cost of these tasks and contribute to increased commercial activity in space.
Photos: The Expedition 65 astronauts at the International Space Station
Another experiment will examine how a small drug-delivering implant in microgravity performs, while another will assess the response of different materials to the space environment.
Two Dragons are currently parked at the ISS. One is the recently arrived cargo capsule, the other the crewed variant. This brought NASA astronauts McArthur, Shane Kimbrough and Japanese spaceflyer Akihiko Hishide, and Thomas Pesquet, the European Space Agency, to the orbiting laboratory in April.
These four astronauts will return to Earth in November, while their crewmates (NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dumbrov and Oleg Novitskiy), will remain aboard to carry out their mission. NASA officials stated that the cargo Dragon will be down sooner than expected and will spend approximately a month at ISS.
Both Dragon versions survive re-entry and can make ocean splashdowns using parachutes. This ability separates the resupply Dragon and other cargo craft currently in operation, which are destroyed by Earth's atmosphere after their missions are completed.
