Dragon Delivers Christmas Goodies To The International Space Station
After chasing the International Space Station (ISS) for two days, the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship has finally reached its destination. Loaded with more than 5,600 pounds of goods, the Dragon capsule arrived at the orbital outpost this morning. The spacecraft was captured by the astronauts crewing the research facility at 7:21 a.m. ET, NASA announced in a blog post.
“We captured the Dragon!” the space agency tweeted earlier today, with confirmation of the event shared on Twitter by SpaceX as well.
As the Inquisitr previously reported, the Dragon was sent on a supply run to the space station as part of SpaceX’s CRS-16 mission. The capsule took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on December 5 and rode into space atop a Falcon 9 rocket — which returned to Earth with a splash, the Inquisitr reported on Thursday.
The Dragon cargo ship spent two days orbiting Earth before it eventually turned up on the astronauts’ doorstep. According to the space agency, the crew of the ISS managed to get ahold of the Dragon with the help of the space station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2. At the time, the orbiting laboratory was flying about 249 miles above the planet over the Pacific Ocean, just north of Papua New Guinea.
Live now on @NASA TV, watch the installation of the @SpaceX #Dragon to the Harmony module where it will stay until January. #AskNASA https;//www.nasa.gov/live pic.twitter.com/sxfvS53D9h
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) December 8, 2018
The robotic arm was operated by ISS commander Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency and flight engineer Serena Aunon-Chancellor of NASA. The duo grappled the capsule, preparing it for installation on board the space station.
The astronauts were assisted by newcomer Anne McClain of NASA, who monitored the capsule’s telemetry during the Dragon’s approach. McClain has only been on board the ISS for nearly a week, after arriving at the space station on Monday, as reported by the Inquisitr at the time.
“This will be our office today,” Gerst tweeted bright and early this morning, while the team was waiting for Dragon to arrive.
This will be our office today. Waiting to catch a #Dragon together with @AstroSerena and @AstroAnnimal. @SpaceX pic.twitter.com/2jqHPTS5Lb
— Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) December 8, 2018
The Dragon came bearing gifts and delivered a hefty supply of equipment, science experiments, and essentials for the astronauts living and working in space. Also on board were some well-deserved Christmas goods — including a Christmas turkey, cranberry sauce, candied yams, and fruitcake, the Inquisitr recently reported.
These will make for a delicious holiday feast for the astronauts celebrating Christmas in space. Although they helped getting the goods to the space station, Gerst and Aunon-Chancellor will not be among them. The two are scheduled to return to Earth on December 20, together with Expedition 57 flight engineer Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, and will spend Christmas with their families.
Now that the Dragon has been secured, the capsule will be installed on the space station’s Harmony module.
Cameras outside of the @Space_Station captured this view of @SpaceX’s #Dragon spacecraft. Now captured, ground controllers will send commands to begin the robotic installation of the spacecraft to our orbiting laboratory. Watch: https://t.co/mzKW5uDsTi pic.twitter.com/p3RI6KXBTy
— NASA (@NASA) December 8, 2018
The cargo ship will remain parked at the ISS until January 13, when the Dragon heads back to Earth.
