The device arrived at the station half an hour earlier than planned
NEW YORK, August 30. /TASS/. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday. The broadcast was conducted on the website of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The spacecraft automatically arrived at the station to the Harmony module at 10: 30 East Coast time (17: 30 Moscow time), half an hour earlier than planned. The operation was controlled by astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan MacArthur. "We have confirmation of contact and capture," the broadcast announcer said. The rigid coupling of the ship to the station, which is carried out with the help of 12 special grips, took about 15 minutes more. "Congratulations to SpaceX and NASA [on a successful docking], no one has ever given me such a birthday gift," said MacArthur, who turned 50 on Monday.
Dragon, as part of SpaceX's 23rd commercial resupply mission to the ISS, delivered various equipment to the station for conducting scientific experiments, in particular, devices that can detect vision problems and will help fight them. In addition, he took on board a variety of useful materials, including concrete, composites and substances that can protect against the effects of radiation.
The previous Dragon was launched on June 3 from the Cape Canaveral cosmodrome (Florida) using a Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The docking with the ISS was made on June 5, a little more than a month later the device landed off the coast of Florida.