A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, carrying 6,000 pounds (2,700 kilograms) of food, equipment, and experiments, successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) at 10:04 a.m. EST (1404 GMT), arriving about 11 minutes ahead of schedule.
The spacecraft reached the ISS at 9:52 a.m. EST (1352 GMT) while the station was flying over southeast Russia, according to commentary on NASA+. The hatch opening was expected to occur later this afternoon EDT.
The Dragon spacecraft docked at the forward port of the ISS’s Harmony module, which had recently hosted another Dragon spacecraft. To accommodate the new arrival, four astronauts relocated their Crew Dragon to a different parking spot during a one-hour operation on Sunday, November 3.
This mission, CRS-31, includes a variety of new scientific experiments. Key investigations include studying the solar wind—the continuous stream of charged particles from the Sun—as well as research on plant growth in microgravity, the cold welding of metals, and the effects of space radiation on the weathering of various materials, according to NASA.
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“KORÇA BOOM”
