国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

World / US and Canada

First commercial spacecraft docks with space station

(Xinhua) Updated: 2012-05-26 12:24

WASHINGTON - SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule docked with the International Space Station on Friday and became the first commercial spacecraft to reach the orbital outpost.

First commercial spacecraft docks with space station

?

The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft docks with the International Space Station using the station's Canadarm2 in this image captured from NASA TV May 25, 2012. [Photo/Agencies] 

According to US space agency NASA, the capsule was securely bolted to the Harmony module of the station at 12:02 pm EDT. ( 1602 GMT), following a grab by the station's robotic arm earlier in the day.

"Dragon has attached with the International Space Station!!!! History has been made!!!" California-based private company SpaceX announced through its Twitter account following the docking.

The cone-shaped Dragon capsule is 19 feet tall and 12 feet across. It carries more than 1,000 pounds of cargo, mostly food and clothing - items that NASA regards as no big loss should the launching fail.

The station's hatches are set to open on Saturday for the unloading of the Dragon's more than half ton of cargo to begin.

Dragon will remain at the space station for nearly a week. Then, it will be unberthed next Thursday and will head back to Earth where it is planned to re-enter the atmosphere and splashdown off the coast of southern California.

"Now that a US company has proven its ability to resupply the space station, it opens a new frontier for commercial opportunities in space and new job creation opportunities right here in the US," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement.

White House science adviser John Holdren also hailed the achievement.

"For the first time, a private American company has successfully launched a spacecraft into orbit and berthed it with the International Space Station - an achievement of historic scientific and technological significance and a key milepost in President Obama's vision for America's continued leadership in space," Holdren said in a statement.

"I could not be prouder of our scientists and engineers - both government and private sector employees - who have contributed to this historic mission," he said.

What sets the Dragon apart from other capsules is that it can bring back space station experiments and old equipment as the space shuttles did. None of the Russian, European or Japanese supply ships do that - they burn up when they return to Earth. The Russian Soyuz vehicles that ferry astronauts have little room to spare.

If the mission is successful, SpaceX would collect the remaining payments on a 396-million-USdollar agreement with NASA to develop the cargo ship. SpaceX would then enter a 1.6-billion- dollar contract for a dozen cargo flights to the station.

SpaceX launched Dragon from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday with its Falcon 9 rocket. On Thursday, the capsule came within 1.6 miles of the space station in a practice fly-by.

Before Dragon's lift-off, flights to the space station have always been a government-only affair.

Until their retirement last summer, US space shuttles carried most of the gear and many of the astronauts to the orbiting outpost. Since then, American astronauts have had to rely on Russian capsules for rides. European, Japanese and Russian supply ships have been delivering cargo.

NASA is looking to the private sector, in this post-shuttle era, to get American astronauts launching again from US soil. It will be at least four to five years before SpaceX or any other private operator is capable of flying astronauts.

 

Trudeau visits Sina Weibo
May gets little gasp as EU extends deadline for sufficient progress in Brexit talks
Ethiopian FM urges strengthened Ethiopia-China ties
Yemen's ex-president Saleh, relatives killed by Houthis
Most Popular
Hot Topics

...
余干县| 南汇区| 海原县| 萨迦县| 洪湖市| 海淀区| 南溪县| 鄂托克旗| 乌什县| 信丰县| 称多县| 长沙市| 昌黎县| 卫辉市| 科技| 永泰县| 镇康县| 武清区| 新干县| 祁东县| 同仁县| 平陆县| 南丰县| 广东省| 金塔县| 房山区| 永和县| 金坛市| 金寨县| 万安县| 新安县| 罗田县| 叙永县| 盐亭县| 长寿区| 施秉县| 东乡族自治县| 达孜县| 临洮县| 陕西省| 德昌县|