The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station this morning and was successfully docked just after 9 a.m. Eastern.
Dragon first made contact with the ISS at 6:56 a.m, when Expedition 33 Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide and Commander Suni Williams captured it with a Canadian Space Agency-provided robotic arm. Williams then used the Canadarm2 to install the Dragon to its docking port on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony node at 9:03 a.m.
"Looks like we've tamed the Dragon. We're happy she's on-board with us," Williams said.
For the rest of the day, Williams and Hoshide will be pressurizing the vestibule between Dragon and the ISS and setting up power and data cables. The hatch is scheduled to be opened just after 6 a.m. tomorrow for Dragon's 18-day stay at the station.
The crew will then unload 882 pounds of crew supplies, science research, and hardware from Dragon and reload it with 1,673 pounds of cargo for return to Earth. Ultimately, Dragon will splash down in the Pacific Ocean about six hours after being released from the ISS on Oct. 28.
Dragon launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Monday morning for SpaceX's first, official resupply mission to the ISS. The company manned a demo mission earlier this year, but it now begins regular flights as part of a $1.6 billion contract to fly 12 missions to the ISS through 2016.
SpaceX later acknowledged an engine "anomaly" upon liftoff. "Initial data suggests that one of the rocket's nine Merlin engines, Engine 1, lost pressure suddenly and an engine shutdown command was issued," SpaceX said. The setback did not threaten the mission, however.
To those watching the launch online, it appeared that part of the rocket might have exploded, but SpaceX denied that. "We know the engine did not explode, because we continued to receive data from it," the company said.
Space fans might be able to catch of a glimpse of the ISS and Dragon flying overhead; use NASA's tool to find out if you can spot it.
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