SpaceX supply ship docks at space station – Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

A day after launching from Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule approached the International Space Station for an automated docking Sunday with more than 7,700 pounds of supplies and experiments.

The largest element of the cargo load is NASA’s second pair of new roll-out solar arrays to augment the space station’s power system.

NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada on-board the space station monitored the Dragon spacecraft’s automated rendezvous, ready to send commands to the capsule to hold its approach or abort the docking in the event of a problem.

After docking Sunday, astronauts on the space station will open hatches and begin unpacking cargo inside the pressurized compartment of the Dragon spacecraft.

Two new ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays, or iROSA units, are packed inside Dragon’s unpressurized trunk cargo bay to upgrade the space station’s power system.

Astronauts on the station will venture outside the complex next month to help install and deploy the new roll-out arrays, which will augment power produced by the station’s original solar arrays.

The space station’s robotic arm will remove the spools from their mounting posts inside the Dragon spacecraft’s rear cargo bay and move them to attachment points on the lab’s left-side and right-side solar power truss.

SpaceX launches Dragon cargo ship to deliver new solar arrays to space station