Dragon approaching International Space Station. Courtesy NASA
Expedition 30 crewmembers Don Pettit and André Kuipers have been refreshing their robotic skills on board the International Space Station in preparation for the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
Scheduled for launch on 30 April from Cape Canaveral in Florida, US, the Dragon spacecraft is set to become the first commercial spacecraft to visit the ISS.
Unlike Europe’s recently arrived Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) that docks automatically with the ISS, the Dragon spacecraft will need a bit of help from the Space Station crew when it arrives on 3 May.
Once the Dragon has approached ISS, Don and André will use the Station’s robotic arm to grapple the spacecraft and manoeuver it towards the docking port on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony module. For this task Don will take the lead as prime operator of the robotic arm, he will be assisted by André as secondary operator.
This first visit of the Dragon spacecraft to the ISS will deliver some 530 kg of cargo, including clothes, food and water. Unlike the ATV and Russia’s Progress resupply spacecraft, the Dragon is also able to return cargo to Earth and will be loaded with 660 kg of equipment before being unberthed after 18 days.
Don Pettit and André Kuipers practice with the simulator on board ISS (Credit: ESA/NASA)
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