Space station commander Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide returned to the Quest airlock module and began repressurizing the compartment at 3:07 p.m. EDT (GMT-4), officially ending a successful six-hour 38-minute spacewalk to bypass a suspect solar array radiator.

This was the 166th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998 and the fifth this year. One hundred and nine astronauts, cosmonauts and international partners have now logged 1,049 hours and one minute of space station EVA time, or 43.7 days.

With today's spacewalk, Williams, a former Navy helicopter pilot, moves up to No. 5 on the list of most experienced spacewalkers with 50 hours and 40 minutes of EVA time during seven excursions. Hoshide now has 21 hours and 23 minutes of spacewalk time during three EVAs.

Williams and Hoshide successfully reconfigured ammonia coolant lines to bypass a presumed leak in a radiator used to cool electrical components in one of the space station's solar array modules. A spare radiator then was successfully deployed to take over cooling.

Flight controllers plan to monitor the system for several weeks to determine if the leak is still present. If there are no signs of a leak, they will know the problem was, in fact, in the bypassed radiator. In that case, managers could elect to simply use the spare radiator indefinitely. If the leak is still there, engineers will know it's somewhere else in the system. In that case, another spacewalk likely will be required at some point to replace a pump module.

But switching to the spare radiator effectively tapped an additional reservoir of ammonia and even with a leak, the coolant system should be able to operate for nearly a year, giving engineers time to come up with a solution.

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Space walk successful on space station

* Astronauts hook up spare radiator

* Station maneuvered to avoid space debris

* Russian cargo ship arrives; being unloaded

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Nov 1 (Reuters) - A pair of

spacewalking astronauts floated outside the International Space

Station on Thursday to bypass a leak in one of the outpost's

cooling systems.

Engineers suspect a micrometeoroid or tiny piece of space

debris may have punched a hole no bigger than the width of a

hair into one of the station's radiators.

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UPDATE 1-Spacewalkers tackle coolant leak on space station

A robotic Russian cargo vessel blasted off today (Oct. 31), carrying nearly 3 tons of supplies on a Halloween delivery mission to the International Space Station.

The unmanned Progress 49 spacecraft launched from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome at 3:41 a.m. EDT (0741 GMT) today and is slated to arrive at the orbiting lab six hours later. You can watch the rendezvous and docking activities live here on NASA TV, beginning at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT).

Progress 49 is toting 2.9 tons of supplies, including 2,050 pounds (930 kilograms) of propellant, 926 pounds (420 kg) of water, 62 pounds (28 kg) of oxygen and 2,738 pounds (1,242 kg) of spare parts, NASA officials said. There's no word yet on whether any candy corn or miniature chocolate bars made it onboard to help the space station's six astronauts celebrate the season.

Life on orbit is always busy, but this week is particularly jam-packed for station crew.

For example, today's launch comes just three days after SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule left the station, wrapping up the first-ever commercial cargo mission to the $100 billion orbiting complex. Dragon splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the Baja California coast on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 28).

Dragon will make at least 11 more flights to the station under a $1.6 billion contract that California-based SpaceX signed with NASA. Its next launch is currently scheduled for January, agency officials have said.

Dragon is unique in its ability to ferry hardware, supplies and scientific experiments both to and from the space station. All other cargo craft currently operating including Russia's Progress ships carry supplies to the orbiting lab but burn up upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

Shortly after welcoming Progress 49 to the station, crewmembers will turn their attention to another task. NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, commander of the orbiting complex's current Expedition 33 mission, and Japanese colleague Akihiko Hoshide will perform a spacewalk Thursday morning (Nov. 1).

Beginning at 8:15 a.m. EDT (1215 GMT) Thursday, Williams and Hoshide will venture to the port side of the station's backbone-like truss to repair an ammonia leak in a radiator. The spacewalk should take about 6 1/2 hours, NASA officials said.

Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook andGoogle+.

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Russian Cargo Ship Launches on Halloween Mission to Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) An unmanned Dragon freighter carrying a stash of precious medical samples from the International Space Station parachuted into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, completing the first official shipment under a billion-dollar contract with NASA.

The California-based SpaceX company successfully guided the Dragon down from orbit to a splashdown a few hundred miles off the Baja California coast.

"This historic mission signifies the restoration of America's ability to deliver and return critical space station cargo," Elon Musk, the billionaire founder and head of SpaceX, said in a statement.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden praised the "American ingenuity" that made the endeavor possible.

Several hours earlier, astronauts aboard the International Space Station used a giant robot arm to release the commercial cargo ship 255 miles up. SpaceX provided updates of the journey back to Earth via Twitter.

The supply ship brought back nearly 2,000 pounds of science experiments and old station equipment. Perhaps the most eagerly awaited cargo is nearly 500 frozen samples of blood and urine collected by station astronauts over the past year.

The Dragon is the only delivery ship capable of returning items, now that NASA's shuttles are retired to museums. Atlantis made the last shuttle haul to and from the station in July 2011.

SpaceX more formally Space Exploration Technologies Corp. launched the capsule three weeks ago from Cape Canaveral, full of groceries, clothes and other station supplies. Ice cream as well as fresh apples were especially appreciated by the station residents, now back up to a full crew of six.

It's the second Dragon to return from the orbiting lab; the first mission in May was a flight demo. This flight is the first of 12 deliveries under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

"It was nice while she was on board," space station commander Sunita Williams said as the Dragon backed away. "We tamed her, took her home and, literally and figuratively, there's a piece of us on that spacecraft going home to Earth."

The rest is here:

Dragon ship back on Earth after space station trip

This story was updated at 8:40 a.m. EDT.

Two astronauts are floating outside the International Space Station today (Nov. 1) in an effort to isolate and repair an ammonia leak in part of the orbiting lab's cooling system.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese spaceflyer Akihiko Hoshide officially begun the spacewalk also known as an extra-vehicular activity, or EVA this morning at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT). They're expected to stay outside for about 6 1/2 hours, NASA officials said. You can watch live coverage of the spacewalk here on NASA TV.

"Aki, come on in. The water is warm," Williams called to Hoshide as he floated outside the space station's airlock.

Each of the orbiting lab's eight huge solar arrays has its own associated power system, and circulating ammonia helps cool this gear down. The spacewalk's first objective is to find the source of the leak, which could affect one of these power channels if it's not addressed soon.

"We don't know exactly where the leak is," space station manager Mike Suffredini of NASA told reporters during a teleconference last Friday (Oct. 26). "It's possible the leak is in the PVR itself, the [photo-voltaic] radiator itself. It could be in the pump system, or it could be in any one of the [coolant] lines." [Gallery: Building the International Space Station]

On Thursday's EVA, Williams commander of the station's current Expedition 33 mission and Hoshide will make their way over to the port side of the station's backbone-like truss. They'll reconfigure some lines in the affected coolant system and install a spare radiator to see if that stops the leak.

"We're real suspicious of the radiator," said spacewalk flight director Mike Lammers, of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "It kind of stretches out there and is susceptible to micrometeorite impacts."

Because the leak is so slow, it will likely take several weeks before it's known if the fix works, officials said.

If ammonia continues to escape, the station's operators will eventually have to try something else. For example, they may direct astronauts to swap out some of the coolant system's pump gear on another spacewalk. But there likely won't be an urgent need for a new fix, since the spare radiator should provide enough ammonia to keep the coolant system operating until next October or so, officials said.

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Astronauts Begin Spacewalk to Fix Space Station Cooling System

Two spacewalking astronauts troubleshot an ammonia leak in the International Space Station's cooling system today (Nov. 1), accomplishing the chief objective of their marathon excursion outside the orbiting lab.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese spaceflyer Akihiko Hoshide ventured outside the space station at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT) today. A little more than five hours later, they had reconfigured some coolant lines and deployed a spare radiator, isolating the leak.

"Suni and Aki, heartfelt congratulations to you," NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, who helped walk the astronauts through their tasks from mission control at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said at 1:41 p.m. EDT (1741 GMT). "We accomplished just about everything we set out to do today."

"A big, huge congratulations to you guys on the ground for putting this together," Williams responded. [Gallery: Building the International Space Station]

Today's spacewalk was slated to last about 6 1/2 hours, and it proceeded pretty much on schedule. By 2:58 p.m. EDT (1958 GMT), both astronauts had re-entered the space station through its airlock, and the spacewalk was officially over nine minutes later.

Finding the leak

Each of the space station's eight huge solar panels has its own associated power system, and circulating ammonia helps cool this gear down. The leak, which NASA and its space station partners first noticed in 2007, has the potential to affect one of these power channels if it's not fixed.

Today's spacewalk, or extra-vehicular activity (EVA), is a crucial step in that process.

At the start of the spacewalk, Williams commander of the station's current Expedition 33 and Hoshide made their way over to the port side of the station's backbone-like truss. They rejiggered some lines in the affected coolant system and installed a spare radiator.

NASA officials hope this stops the leak, which they suspect may be coming from the old (swapped-out) radiator.

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Spacewalking Astronauts Isolate Leak in Space Station Cooling System

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A pair of spacewalking astronauts floated outside the International Space Station on Thursday to bypass a leak in one of the outpost's cooling systems.

Engineers suspect a micrometeoroid or tiny piece of space debris may have punched a hole no bigger than the width of a hair into one of the station's radiators.

The devices dissipate heat from batteries and other equipment aboard the solar-powered station, a $100 billion laboratory for biological, fluid physics and other science experiments now flying about 255 miles above Earth.

Station commander Sunita Williams and flight engineer Akihiko Hoshide left the station's Quest airlock around 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) and returned 6.5 hours later after reconfiguring some ammonia coolant lines and hooking up a spare radiator.

"Suni and Aki, our heartfelt congratulations to you and the entire team," astronaut Mike Fincke radioed to the spacewalkers from Mission Control in Houston. "We've accomplished just about everything we set out to do today."

The leak is small so it will take several weeks to determine if the radiator was the source, said space station program manager Mike Suffredini.

If routing ammonia through the spare radiator does not stem the leak, another spacewalk to replace a pump or other equipment in the system may be needed.

Unless it is fixed, the leak would eventually trigger the cooling system to shut down, leaving the station without a backup system for a section of the station's solar arrays.

The cooling system holds about 50 pounds (22.7 kg) of ammonia. It would automatically shut down if the ammonia level drops to 40 pounds (18 kg), said flight director Mike Lammers.

As ground control teams prepared for the spacewalk on Wednesday, the station had to maneuver to avoid another piece of debris, part of the wreckage from the 2009 collision of an Iridium communications satellite and a Russian satellite.

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Spacewalkers tackle coolant leak on space station

The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) was raised on Wednesday by one kilometer in anticipation of the arrival of new crew members at the end of October, Russias Mission Control said.

The adjustment was carried out with the use of thrusters on the Russian Zvezda service module.

The Zvezda thrusters were switched on for 19 seconds to give the station an additional boost of 0.3 meters per second, a Mission Control spokesman said.

As a result of the maneuver, the stations orbit was increased by one kilometer to 419.2 kilometers, the official said.

The adjustment was intended to smooth out the elliptic shape of the orbit and ensure the best conditions for the docking of the Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft with the orbital outpost slated for October 25.

The Soyuz TMA-06M will bring to the station Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin, along with NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, as part of Expedition 33.

They will join the current crew consisting of NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko and Japans Akihiko Hoshide.

The launch of a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with the new ISS crew is scheduled on October 23 from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan.

Read more here:

Space Station Orbit Readjusted Before New Crew Arrival

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide, Expedition 33 flight engineer, works near the airlock in the Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station. The Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD) previously installed on the Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) is visible in the airlock. This image was released Oct. 4, 2012.

Several tiny satellites float in front of the ISS in this image by an Expedition 33 crew member from the International Space Station. This image was taken Oct.4, 2012.

The satellites were released outside the Kibo laboratory using a Small Satellite Orbital Deployer attached to the Japanese module's robotic arm on Oct. 4, 2012. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide, flight engineer, set up the satellite deployment gear inside the lab and placed it in the Kibo airlock.

Several tiny satellites float in front of the ISS in this image by an Expedition 33 crew member from the International Space Station. This image was taken Oct.4, 2012.

Several tiny satellites are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 33 crew member on the International Space Station. The satellites were released outside the Kibo laboratory using a Small Satellite Orbital Deployer attached to the Japanese module's robotic arm on Oct. 4, 2012.

Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD) attached to the Japanese module's robotic arm is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 33 crew member on the International Space Station. Several tiny satellites were released outside the Kibo laboratory using the SSOD on Oct. 4, 2012.

The satellites were released outside the Kibo laboratory using a Small Satellite Orbital Deployer attached to the Japanese module's robotic arm on Oct. 4, 2012.

Several tiny satellites are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 33 crew member on the International Space Station on Oct. 4, 2012.

The Cubesat mission expands and introduces new utilization of the JEM using JEMRMS and JEM AL, which are unique features of the JEM module. The main purpose of this mission is to establish processes and procedures for satellite verifications, integration of the satellites, launching satellites to ISS, and deploying satellites into the space.

Excerpt from:

Tiny Satellites Launch From Space Station (Photos)

ScienceDaily (Oct. 16, 2012) With all the prepackaged gardening kits on the market, an exceptionally green thumb isn't necessary to grow your own tasty fresh vegetables here on Earth. The same may hold true for U.S. astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station when they receive a newly developed Vegetable Production System, called VEGGIE for short, set to launch aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule on NASA's third Commercial Resupply Services mission next year.

"Our hope is that even though VEGGIE is not a highly complex plant growth apparatus, it will allow the crew to rapidly grow vegetables using a fairly simple nutrient and water delivery approach," said Howard Levine, Ph.D. and chief scientist, NASA's Kennedy Space Center International Space Station Research Office.

Gioia Massa, a postdoctoral fellow in the Surface Systems Group of Kennedy's Engineering Directorate, has been working with the International Space Station Research Office to validate the VEGGIE hardware here on Earth before it takes flight next year.

"VEGGIE could be used to produce faster-growing species of plants, such as lettuce or radishes, bok choy or Chinese cabbage, or even bitter leafy greens" Massa said. "Crops like tomatoes, peas or beans in which you'd have to have a flower and set fruit would take a little longer than a 28-day cycle."

It may not sound like a big deal to us Earthlings who can just run out to our local produce stand or supermarket when we have a hankering for a salad, but when you're living 200 miles above the surface of the planet, truly fresh food only comes a few times a year.

"When the resupply ships get up there, the fresh produce gets eaten almost immediately," Massa said.

Weighing in at about 15 pounds and taking up the space of a stove-top microwave oven, the stowable and deployable VEGGIE system was built by Orbital Technologies Corporation, or ORBITEC, in Madison, Wis. The company designed the system to enable low-maintenance experiments, giving astronauts the opportunity to garden recreationally.

"Based upon anecdotal evidence, crews report that having plants around was very comforting and helped them feel less out of touch with Earth," Massa said. "You could also think of plants as pets. The crew just likes to nurture them."

In simple terms, the VEGGIE system works like this: Clear Teflon bellows that can be adjusted for plants as they grow are attached to a metal frame housing the system's power and light switches. A rooting pillow made of Teflon-coated Kevlar and Nomex will contain the planting media, such as soil or claylike particles, along with fertilizer pellets. Seeds either will be preloaded in the pillows on Earth or inserted by astronauts in space. To water the plants, crew members will use a reservoir located beneath the pillows and a root mat to effectively add moisture through an automatic wicking process.

VEGGIE is set to join other plant growth facilities that vary in size and complexity, such as the Lada greenhouse unit and the ABRS, short for Advanced Biological Research System. VEGGIE is the simplest of the three designs, but has the largest surface area for planting and is expected to produce data on a more regular basis. Levine noted that the ability to grow plants in microgravity has really evolved throughout the past decade.

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Space station investigation to test fresh food experience

Astronauts on the International Space Station have transformed their high-flying laboratory into a new kind of launch pad for tiny satellites in a bid to boost student interest and access to space.

This month, the space station's Expedition 33 crew launched five tiny Cubesats, each only a few inches wide, using a small satellite orbital deployer from Japan's space agency JAXA. They were the first Cubesat satellites ever launched from the International Space Station, coming 2 1/2 years after NASA announced the CubeSat program.

"This was a learning experience for everyone," said Andres Martinez, the NASA Ames project manager for one of the satellites.

The cubesats were launched from the station's Japanese Kibo laboratory on Oct. 4, which also marked the 55th anniversary of the world's first satellite launch in 1957 that placed Russia's Sputnik 1 in orbit and ushered in the Space Age. [Photos: Tiny Satellites Launch from Space Station]

"Fifty-five years ago we launched the first satellite from Earth. Today we launched them from a spacecraft," space station commander Sunita Williams of NASA said on launch day to mark the moment. "Fifty years from now, I wonder where we'll be launching them from."

The JAXA satellite-deploying device arrived at the station aboard a Japanese cargo ship in July. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide placed the deployer, which is about the size of a small rabbit cage, into a small airlock in the Kibo lab. Then, the astronaut sealed the airlock, opened it up to space, and commanded the station's Kibo robotic arm to pick up the deployer and bring it outside for satellite deployment.

All told, the procedure took only four hours of astronaut time with no spacewalk required.

"If you can imagine, deploying satellites from station can be quite risky," Martinez said. "We were going through that whole experience of conducting analysis to ensure this would be something safe to do from station, not only from the point of deployment but also taking up the satellites inside station."

Small satellite evolution One of the cubesats launched from the space station was TechEdSat, a 10-centimeter-wide (3.9 inches) satellite that Martinez oversaw. Students at San Jose State University were responsible for most of the design and development work.

The students are operating a ground station where they will be able to listen to signals from TechEdSat. The satellite periodically sends out packets of data with information about its temperature, orbit and other parameters explaining its environment in space. The project cost about $30,000, excluding labor and launch costs.

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Space station opens cubesat launch pad

Astronauts on the International Space Station have transformed their high-flying laboratory into a new kind of launch pad for tiny satellites in a bid to boost student interest and access to space.

This month, the space station's Expedition 33 crew launched five tiny Cubesats, each only a few inches wide, using a small satellite orbital deployer from Japan's space agency JAXA. They were the first Cubesat satellites ever launched from the International Space Station, coming 2 1/2 years after NASA announced the CubeSat program.

"This was a learning experience for everyone," said Andres Martinez, the NASA Ames project manager for one of the satellites.

The cubesats were launched from the station's Japanese Kibo laboratory on Oct. 4, which also marked the 55th anniversary of the world's first satellite launch in 1957 that placed Russia's Sputnik 1 in orbit and ushered in the Space Age. [Photos: Tiny Satellites Launch from Space Station]

"Fifty-five years ago we launched the first satellite from Earth. Today we launched them from a spacecraft," space station commander Sunita Williams of NASA said on launch day to mark the moment. "Fifty years from now, I wonder where we'll be launching them from."

The JAXA satellite-deploying device arrived at the station aboard a Japanese cargo ship in July. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide placed the deployer, which is about the size of a small rabbit cage, into a small airlock in the Kibo lab. Then, the astronaut sealed the airlock, opened it up to space, and commanded the station's Kibo robotic armto pick up the deployer and bring it outside for satellite deployment.

All told, the procedure took only four hours of astronaut time with no spacewalk required.

"If you can imagine, deploying satellites from station can be quite risky," Martinez said. "We were going through that whole experience of conducting analysis to ensure this would be something safe to do from station, not only from the point of deployment but also taking up the satellites inside station."

Several tiny satellites float in front of the ISS in this image by an Expedition 33 crew member from the International Space Station. This image was taken Oct.4, 2012. CREDIT: NASA

Small satellite evolution

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Space Station Opens Launch Pad for Tiny Satellites

Space Station commander in Blue Ash

The Japan America Society will host Dr. Koichi Wakata, commander of the International Space Station, at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, at Cooper Creek Events Center, Cooper and Plainfield roads in Blue

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Space Station commander in Blue Ash

by Nancy Atkinson on October 16, 2012

Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter

The International Space Station appears to go to warp speed a la Star Trek, Star Wars and almost every other space flick in this new video created by Christoph Malin, who stacked image sequences that the ISS crew at International Space Station have been taking lately. These are the images that have been used to create the great timelapse videos, that provide a sense of what it is like to fly over the Earth on the space station. But this one is different, and as Malin says, Stacks make interesting patterns visible, for example lightning corridors within clouds. One can also sometimes recognize satellite tracks and meteors patterns that are not amongst the main star trails.

Also visible is the Moon disappearing into the atmosphere and views from the ISS Cupola gorgeous!

The ISS Stacks from Christoph Malin on Vimeo.

Via the Bad Astronomer

Tagged as: Christoph Malin, International Space Station (ISS), star trails, Timelapse

Excerpt from:

Video: Space Station Reaches Warp Speed?

10-10-2012 09:29 Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 33 Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and station Commander Sunita Williams of NASA used the Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft October 10 2012, signaling the arrival of the vehicle at the orbital laboratory for the first US commercial resupply service for the complex. Within hours after grappling Dragon following its 2-day transit following launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., Williams and Hoshide installed the SpaceX craft to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module. Dragon is scheduled to remain berthed to the station until its departure October 28 for its deorbit and parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California.

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SpaceX Commercial Cargo Craft Arrives at International Space Station - Video

SpaceX's Dragon capsule delivered cargo including a little ice cream to the International Space Station Wednesday, confirming that a new era for NASA has finally been realized.

The International Space Station welcomed its first commercial resupply mission Wednesday with the arrival of Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon capsule.

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Dragon is laden with scientific gear, replacement parts for the space station, and a welcome shipment of chocolate ripple ice cream stashed in an otherwise empty lab freezer the capsule carried up.

The capsule, which launched Sunday night atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, reached the orbiting outpost about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Using the station's robotic arm, Akihiki Hoshide, a station flight engineer, snagged Dragon at 7:56 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. A little over an hour later, Dragon was safely docked with the station.

"Looks like we've tamed the dragon," said station commander Sunita Williams when the arm initially captured the capsule.

"We're happy she's on board with us," she said, adding a special shout-out for the ice cream.

The mission marks an important milestone for NASA along a path first set out under the Bush administration and confirmed by President Obama. After the space shuttle Columbia disaster in February 2003, NASA has pivoted to focus on sending humans beyond low-Earth orbit, while it has steered the job of ferrying supplies and astronauts to the space station to private companies.

The effort to carry astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit took a step forward in August, when NASA announced agreements worth a combined $1.1 billion to help SpaceX, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada Corporation develop such capabilities. But Dragon's arrival at the space station Wednesday the first flight under a 12-flight, $1.6-billion contract shows that the goal of bringing commercial carriers into the station resupply business is now being realized.

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Dragon capsule reaches space station, chocolate ripple ice cream intact

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station snared themselves a Dragon cargo capsule early Wednesday.

The freighter, launched Sunday evening by manufacturer Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, flew itself to within 10 meters (about 33 feet) from the station, then shut down its rocket thrusters to let the station crew take over.

PHOTOS: Berthing a Dragon: An Astronaut's Spectacular View

Working from a control station inside the station's Cupola module, a small room with windows on seven sides, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide gently steered the station's 58-foot long robotic crane over to the Dragon cargo capsule and latched on to a grapple fixture at 6:56 a.m. EDT. The two spacecraft were flying in tandem at 17,500 mph about 250 miles over the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Baja California in northwest Mexico, at the time.

"Looks like we tamed the Dragon," station commander Sunita Williams radioed to Mission Control in Houston.

"We're happy she's on board with us. Thanks to everybody at SpaceX and NASA for bringing her here to us. And the ice cream, she said.

ANALYSIS: SpaceX Falcon Rocket Flies

Dragon launched with a freezer to ferry medical research samples to and from the outpost. It was launched with ice cream inside, a rare treat for an orbiting crew.

Once the capsule is attached to the station, astronauts will begin unpacking the food, clothes, science experiments and science gear inside and filling it up with about a ton of cargo and experiments that needs to be returned to Earth.

Dragon is due to remain berthed at the station for 18 days, then parachute down into the Pacific Ocean for recovery. It will be the first large load of items to come back from the station since the space shuttles were retired last year.

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Space Station Crew 'Tames' SpaceX Dragon

A private company successfully delivered a half-ton of supplies to the International Space Station early Wednesday, the first official shipment under a billion-dollar contract with NASA.

The SpaceX cargo ship, called Dragon, eased up to the orbiting lab, and station astronauts reached out with a robot arm and snared it. Then they firmly latched it down.

"Looks like we've tamed the Dragon," reported space station commander Sunita Williams. "We're happy she's on board with us."

Williams thanked SpaceX and NASA for the delivery, especially the chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream stashed in a freezer.

The linkup occurred 250 miles above the Pacific, just west of Baja California, 2 days after the Dragon's launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

"Nice flying," radioed NASA's Mission Control.

It's the first delivery by the California-based SpaceX company under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. The contract calls for 12 such shipments.

This newest Dragon holds 1,000 pounds of groceries, clothes, science experiments and other gear. Williams and her crew won't get access to all that until Thursday, when the hatch is opened.

The vessel will remain at the space station for nearly three weeks before departing with almost twice that much cargo at the end of the month. Dragon is the only cargo ship capable of bringing back research and other items, filling a void left by NASA's retired shuttles.

AP

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SpaceX Arrives at Space Station

The 1,000-pound delivery included supplies and a sweet treat of ice cream for the astronauts

By Tariq Malik and SPACE.com

THE DRAGON HAS LANDED: SpaceX's Dragon space capsule hovers just below the International Space Station's robotic arm in this view from an arm camera on October 10, 2012, during the CRS-1 commercial cargo mission. Image: NASA TV

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A privately built robotic space capsule arrived at the International Space Station early Wednesday (Oct. 10) to make the first-ever commercial cargo delivery to the orbiting lab under a billion-dollar deal with NASA.

The unmanned Dragon spacecraft was captured by station astronauts using a robotic arm after an apparently flawless approach by the cargo-laden space capsule, which was built by the private spaceflight company SpaceX. It is the first of 12 resupply flights SpaceX will fly for NASA under a $1.6 billion deal.

"Looks like we've tamed the Dragon," station commander Sunita Williams said as the spacecraft was captured by a robotic arm. "We're happy she's onboard with us. Thanks to everyone at SpaceX and NASA for bringing her to us and the ice cream."

The astronauts' chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream, a rare treat for the space station crew, was a last-minute item packed along with the nearly 1,000 pounds (453 kilograms) of supplies riding up to the orbiting lab on the Dragon capsule. [Photos: SpaceX's Dragon Arrives at Space Station]

The SpaceX spacecraft was captured at about 6:56 a.m. EDT (1122 GMT) by Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide as the space station soared 250 miles (402 kilometers) above the Pacific Ocean, just west of Baja California. The capsule will be attached to an open docking port on the station in the next few hours.

Original post:

SpaceX Dragon Capsule Arrives at Space Station With Precious Cargo

A private company successfully delivered a half-ton of supplies to the International Space Station early Wednesday, the first official shipment under a billion-dollar contract with NASA.

9:52 a.m. CDT, October 10, 2012

After a 2-1/2 day trip, Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon cargo ship positioned itself 33 feet away from the $100 billion research complex, a project of 15 countries, which has been dependent on Russian, European and Japanese freighters for supplies.

"Looks like we tamed the Dragon," commander Sunita Williams radioed to Mission Control in Houston.

"We're happy she's on board with us. Thanks to everybody at SpaceX and NASA for bringing her here to us. And the ice cream," she said.

The Dragon's cargo includes a freezer to ferry science samples back and forth between the station and Earth. For the flight up, it was packed with chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream, a rare treat for an orbiting crew.

Williams and Hoshide attached the capsule to a docking port on the station's Harmony connecting module at 9:03 a.m. EDT (1303 GMT).

It is expected to remain docked to the station for about 18 days while the crew unloads its 882 pounds (400 kg) of cargo and fills it with science experiments and equipment no longer needed on the outpost.

The flight is the first of 12 planned under a $1.6 billion contract NASA placed with privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to deliver cargo to the station.

The U.S. space agency's second supplier, Orbital Sciences Corp, plans to debut its Antares rocket later this year. A demonstration run to the station is planned for February or March.

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SpaceX cargo ship reaches International Space Station