May 22, 2017 - Magic Dragon

Magic Dragon Five years ago this week, the Space Exploration Technologies Company, more commonly known as SpaceX, made history when its Dragon capsule became the first commercially developed space vehicle to be launched to the International Space Station. Dragon joined Russian, European, and Japanese resupply craft that service the complex, and it restored a U.S. capability to deliver cargo to the orbital laboratory. In this image, The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is about to be grappled by the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm (partially visible at bottom). Expedition 31 Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers grappled Dragon at 9:56 AM (EDT) and used the robotic arm to berth Dragon to the Earth-facing side of the station’s Harmony node at 12:02 PM, May 25, 2012.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

May 22 - 28, 2017

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 22

Victoria Day (Canada)

Venus 2° north of Moon

1969: Apollo 10 lunar module descends to within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface
2012: Dragon C2+ spacecraft launched, first commercial mission to dock with ISS