SpaceX Dragon cargo ship, the last to be caught by robot arm, arrives at space station - Space.com
SpaceX's robotic Dragon cargo capsule
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir used the station's huge Canadarm robotic arm to capture Dragon at 6:25 a.m. EDT (1025 GMT), while the two spacecraft were 262 miles (422 kilometers) above the Pacific Ocean near Vancouver, British Columbia, NASA officials said.
It was the last-ever arm grapple for a Dragon. The current mission — the 20th SpaceX has flown under a cargo deal with NASA — is the last for this first version of the SpaceX resupply vehicle. The new iteration will dock directly to the International Space Station
Related: How SpaceX's Dragon space capsule works (infographic)
"The SpaceX 20 mission is a milestone for several reasons," Meir said this morning. "It is of course the 20th SpaceX cargo mission, but it is also the last SpaceX cargo vehicle captured by the Canadarm, as future vehicles will automatically dock to the space station. It is also the last cargo vehicle that will visit during our current crew's time on the space station."
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The last SpaceX Dragon to be captured by a robotic arm on the International Space Station is seen just after capture on March 9, 2020. All future Dragons will be able to dock themselves at the station. (Image credit: NASA TV) The last SpaceX Dragon to be captured by a robotic arm on the International Space Station is seen just after capture on March 9, 2020. All future Dragons will be able to dock themselves at the station.
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(Image credit: NASA TV) SpaceX's Dragon CRS-20 cargo ship was attached to the International Space Station's Harmony connecting node shortly after its capture.
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(Image credit: NASA TV) This was the third trip to the space station by this particular SpaceX Dragon. It launched on a Falcon 9 rocket, also previously flown, on Friday, March 6.
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(Image credit: NASA) The Dragon cargo capsule approached the International Space Station on March 9, 2020.
Dragon launched toward the station
Dragon also toted up a variety of scientific experiments, including one called MVP Cell-03, which "examines whether microgravity increases the production of heart cells from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)," NASA officials wrote in a statement
"We welcome SpaceX 20 and are eager to reveal its bounty of science and space station hardware and supplies," Meir said. "Congratulations to SpaceX and all of the ISS partner teams involved."
This morning's ISS arrival is the third for this particular Dragon, which also visited the orbiting lab in February 2017 and December 2018.
Three cargo missions is the design limit for the Dragon 1 capsule iteration. But the new Dragon 2 vehicle will be capable of flying to the station and back five times, SpaceX representatives have said. Such repeated reusability is key to SpaceX's quest to slash the cost of spaceflight, thereby making ambitious exploration feats such as Mars colonization economically feasible.
That reusability involves rockets, too. For example, SpaceX landed the first stage of the two-stage Falcon 9
SpaceX holds one NASA deal for cargo transport to the ISS and another one for crew. The company flew an uncrewed demonstration mission to the orbiting lab in March 2019
The cargo Dragon will remain attached to the ISS for about a month, then come back down to Earth for an ocean splashdown.
Mike Wall is the author of " Out There " (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate ), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall . Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook .
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