Easter Delivery for ISS Courtesy of SpaceX Dragon

There were no chocolate bunnies packed aboard, at least according to the official manifest, but astronauts on the International Space Station received a very larger Easter basket this morning in the form of the SpaceX-3 Dragon capsule.  After conducting a series of overnight burns which brought it within visual range of the station, the Dragon moved to the planned 30 meter hold point, and then began the carefully planned short bursts of the Draco thrusters which brought it the 10 meter capture point.

Perched inside the station’s cupula, ISS commander Koichi Wakata operated the Canadarm-2 remote manipulator system to capture the Dragon at 6:14 am CDT, and bring it in for a berthing which took place at 9:06 am CDT.  At that time, ISS was flying at 260 miles above Brazil.

After driving in the 16 bolts which secure the Dragon to the station’s Earth facing (nadir) port on the Harmony module, the next step is to pressurize the vestibule between the two doors.

Astronauts are not scheduled to open the hatch until early tomorrow (Monday) morning, but it is not uncommon for the crew to open up the hatch well ahead of schedule.