Dragon arrives at space station in historic 1st
by Marcia Dunn
AP Aerospace Writer
May 25, 2012 10:39 AM | 290 views | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend | print
This image provided by NASA-TV shows the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft taken from Canadarm2's video camera as Dragon approaches the International Space Station, Friday, May 25, 2012. In foreground is a portion of Canadarm2. Expedition 31 Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple the supply ship Friday morning with the berthing to the Earth-facing side of the station’s Harmony node following. Dragon is scheduled to spend about a week docked with the station before returning to Earth on May 31 for retrieval. (AP Photo/NASA)
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ Space station astronauts have captured the Dragon.

The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Friday, making history as the first commercial delivery truck in orbit.

Astronauts Donald Pettit and Andre Kuipers used the space station’s robot arm to snare the Dragon after a few hours of extra maneuvering.

NASA is handing over routine orbital flights to private business so it can concentrate on grander destinations like asteroids and Mars. The California-based SpaceX company is leading the charge under billionaire Elon Musk, who helped create PayPal.

Dragon will remain at the space station for nearly a week. It will be freed next Thursday to return to Earth with a load of experiments.

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