Dragon CRS-12 grappled by Canadarm. Credits: NASA
16 August the Dragon CRS-12 cargo spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Jack Fischer and ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli where at the robotic workstation in the Cupola observatory to operate a 17-m robotic arm and grapple the spacecraft as it flew through space.
Jack was “M1” operating the arm with Paolo acting as “M2” spotting the spacecraft and relaying information to Jack and mission control. At NASA’s Johnson Space Center ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen was capcom talking to Paolo on the space-to-ground radio.
Kubik incubator. Credits: ESA
The grappling and berthing went smoothly with contact made at 14:07 GMT. The Dragon delivered almost 3000 kg of supplies to the station, including samples of an ASI experiment that Paolo needed to put in ESA’s Kubik space incubator-centrifuge as soon as possible. The samples will return to Earth with the Dragon when it leaves next month.
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