WASHINGTON: SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station yesterday with a cargo of supplies, including freeze-dried meals, 20 live lab mice and a 3D printer.
Astronauts at the orbiting lab reached out with the space station’s robotic arm to grasp the Dragon at 6.52am (1052 GMT), Nasa said.
Germany’s Alexander Gerst, an astronaut from the European Space Agency, operated the 57.7-foot robotic arm to capture the Dragon, and was assisted by Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman. The berthing operation was completed at 9.21am when the vessel latched fully onto the research outpost.
The Dragon capsule is carrying more than 2,200kg of food, clothing, spare parts, exercise equipment, science experiments, a small satellite and a tool to measure wind speed at the ocean’s surface.
The spacecraft launched early Sunday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and is SpaceX’s fourth contracted mission with NASA for supply trips to the ISS and back.
The lab mice are the first live mammals to hitch a ride aboard a commercial cargo ship, and they are enclosed in a Nasa-made research cage for studying the effects of weightlessness on their bodies.
AFP
