The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is less than a day away from arriving at the International Space Station. The Expedition 43 crew is getting ready for its arrival and five-week stay at the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module. Read more about the SpaceX CRS-6 mission.
Commander Terry Virts set up hardware inside Harmony to assist Dragon’s installation after its capture tomorrow. Virts and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti also brushed up on robotics skills necessary to capture Dragon with the Canadarm2.
NASA TV will begin rendezvous coverage Friday at 5 a.m. EDT. Dragon is scheduled to be grappled about 7 a.m. by Cristoforetti inside the cupola at the controls of Canadarm2 with Virts assisting.
Though it was a light day, the rest of the crew worked on human research and advanced microgravity experiments. Dragon is also delivering new science gear to support hundreds of experiments aboard the orbital laboratory. Read more about research on the space station.
Poem for Space crew and special for Samantha Cristoforetti:
the casting has been done without consulting us
only with the consent of the True Summit
he knew that the Great Land does exist and
nothing could have stopped him:
neither the hurricanes nor the rebels
from the ship
the roles have been decided long Time ago under the Earth
and they know that the Great Land does exist
nothing will stop them
not even the rocks that roll heedlessly across
the Space nor the star dust getting into your eyes
because they know that they will find their new big Teddy-Bear that is dancing to the music
somewhere in the Space
I wish You all best from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dijan … Kalač
i watched the launch of Falcon 9 from my laptop here in the U.K. (AWESOME) space has always been of interest to me, will NASA TV be broadcasting the clamping of DRAGON to the ISS? if not will the highlights been shown later in the day?
yours sincerely
W.R.WILLIAMS
waiting for the experiment a year long surviving in ISS !!!! best of luck.
Just watched dragon chasing the space station while passing over Victoria BC, Canada. “Cheers”
I have been watching the ISS as it passes over us here at Lake Cushman on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington and it has always given me a thrill as it passes…..makes very proud that somehow we are able to all work together in Space and forget the petty politics down here on earth……Tonight I was absolutely thrilled….2 for the price of one….there it was, the ISS passing over us at 2138 pacific time as brilliant….no, even more brilliant than usual (I think due to the extra reflection coming off Scott’s head) and there right behind was Dragon….not quite as bright and not as big but there it was! No need for a telescope! Just beautiful! Best of luck on the docking tomorrow!