Commercial Craft Docks With Space Station for New Era in Space

Earth looms in the background as the space station’s robotic arm grips the spacecraft Dragon before pulling it into a berth on the station.

Washington — A privately built spacecraft docked at the International Space Station May 25, opening what experts are calling a new future for space exploration, “a future that embraces the innovation the private sector brings to the table,” according to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

The private company Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) built the unmanned cargo craft known as Dragon. The SpaceX team celebrated its first victory of the week on May 22 when its Falcon rocket launched the craft on the three-day journey to rendezvous with the International Space Station, in orbit about 400 kilometers above Earth.

Dragon maneuvered itself within 2 kilometers of the station May 24 and conducted a number of checks and tests to determine that the vehicle was prepared to berth with the station. With those procedures satisfactorily conducted, Dragon made a slow but steady approach to the station, and with precision maneuvers, came into position where astronauts could grab the craft with the station’s 17.7-meter robotic arm.

“We got us a dragon by the tail,” said astronaut Don Pettit in a radio transmission from the station to NASA’s Flight Control Center in Houston, as the station passed over northwest Australia.

“It’s a beautiful day in space,” the NASA TV narrator said in the celebratory moments after the two vehicles connected.

The six-member crew on board the station then began a visual inspection of the unmanned vehicle to ensure that it had not been damaged in the flight. The process to actually berth the Dragon and connect power and data cables took several hours.

“We’re handing off to the private sector our transportation to the International Space Station so that NASA can focus on what we do best: exploring even deeper into our solar system with missions to an asteroid and Mars on the horizon,” said Bolden in a blog post.

NASA retired the space shuttle vehicles that served for 30 years as the U.S. space truck, carrying astronauts and material into orbit to assemble the space station. Russia is currently operating the only craft that can transport humans into space.

“The decision to end the shuttle program back in 2004 was a difficult one,” Bolden blogged. “But with the kind of hard work, determination and ingenuity for which NASA and this nation are known, we’re now on the brink of a new future.”

SpaceX is the first commercial company to put a spacecraft into orbit and return it safely to Earth. The company describes itself as the “world’s fastest growing launch services provider.” SpaceX and NASA have a contract for further cargo transport missions, and the company aims to win a future contract to ferry astronauts to the space station.

The SpaceX founder, chief executive officer and chief engineer for Dragon, Elon Musk, anticipates a significant commercial element in space exploration of the future.

“It is like the advent of the Internet in the mid-1990s when commercial companies entered what was originally a government endeavor,” Musk said in a SpaceX press release. “That move dramatically accelerated the pace of advancement and made the Internet accessible to the mass market. I think we’re at a similar inflection point for space.”

Musk was the co-founder of PayPal, an Internet payment system.

On this first mission. Dragon carried about 540 kilograms of cargo, including assorted utilities, computers and hardware. The space station crew will unload those supplies over the next few days, then restock Dragon with a return cargo of supplies and equipment no longer needed at the station.

The craft can carry more than 3,300 kilograms, but the cargo weight was intentionally kept low for this maiden flight.

Dragon is expected to remain connected to the station until about May 31 when it will leave its port, return to Earth and parachute into the Pacific Ocean.