Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques ‘catches’ SpaceX supply capsule using International Space Station’s giant robot arm
- ‘Dragon’ arrived at the station after weekend launch and will stay there for a month while it gets filled with science samples
The Dragon capsule delivered 2,500kg (5,500 pounds) of equipment and experiments.
Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques used the station’s big robot arm – also made in Canada – to capture the Dragon about 400km (250 miles) above the North Atlantic Ocean. An external cable that normally comes off during launch dangled from the capsule, but it did not interfere with the grappling.
“Welcome on board, Dragon,” Saint-Jacques radioed. He congratulated ground teams for their help – in English and French.
Saint-Jacques later told Canadian schoolchildren it was “a big moment of pride” to grab the Dragon using the station’s 18-metre (58-foot) robot arm – Canada’s main contribution to the space station.
He became the first Canadian to use it to grab a visiting spacecraft – “a cosmic catch” in the words of the Canadian Space Agency.
“To be at the controls myself, after all these years of training, it was a very, very special moment – and, fortunately, it all went well,” Saint-Jacques told the schoolchildren later in the day.
This is SpaceX’s 17th delivery to the space station; the first was in 2012. Northrop Grumman is Nasa’s other shipper; its Cygnus cargo ship arrived just two weeks ago.
The Dragon will be there for about a month while being filled with science samples. It’s the only cargo ship capable of returning to Earth intact.
Besides one Canadian, the space station is home to three Americans and two Russians.
