While the International Space Station was traveling 257 statue miles over the Pacific Ocean just east of Japan, Expedition 43 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency, with the assistance of Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts of NASA, successfully captured the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with the station's robotic arm at 6:55 a.m. EDT, April 17.
The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, SpaceX's seventh commercial resupply mission under NASA contract to the space station delivered several tons of supplies, including new science experiments and technology research.
The Expedition 43 crew prepared for its arrival and five-week stay at the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module. Read more about the SpaceX CRS-6 mission.
Commander Terry Virts set up hardware inside Harmony to assist Dragon’s installation after its capture. Virts and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti also brushed up on robotics skills necessary to capture Dragon with the Canadarm2.
Dragon is also delivering new science gear to support hundreds of experiments aboard the orbital laboratory. Read more about research on the space station.