This image provided by NASA-TV shows the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft as it flys over the coast of West Africa taken from Canadarm2’s video camera as Dragon approaches the International Space Station early this morning. In foreground is a portion of Canadarm2. Expedition 31 Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple the supply ship early Friday morning with the berthing to the Earth-facing side of the station’s Harmony node following about 11:20 a.m. Dragon is scheduled to spend about a week docked with the station before returning to Earth on May 31 for retrieval. (AP Photo/NASA)MARCIA DUNN
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule approached the International Space Station for a historic docking Friday after sailing through a practice rendezvous the day before.
The unmanned SpaceX Dragon was on track to deliver a half-ton of supplies and become the first commercial vessel to visit the space station.
“It’s a great view,” Dutch space station astronaut Andre Kuipers said as the Dragon pulled to within 900 feet, its strobe light flashing. “The solar panels are nicely lit.”
On Thursday, the capsule came within 1½ miles of the space station in a practice fly-by. It returned to the neighborhood early Friday so Kuipers and U.S. astronaut Donald Pettit could capture it with a robot arm. First, the capsule went through a series of stop-and-go demonstrations to prove it was under good operating control.