On April 10, 2016 at 13:57 UTC the private U.S. unmanned supply spacecraft, the "Dragon” SpX-8 (CRS-8 flight), was successfully docked to the International Space Station. The linkup operation was carried out with the help of the giant 17-meter Canadarm. The capture with Canadarm-2 was performed by British astronaut Timothy Peake at 11:23 UTC. The Dragon spacecraft was maneuvered into position and attached to a berthing port on the space station's Harmony module. The centerpiece of Dragon’s 3.5-ton cargo load is the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, a pathfinder for future inflatable habitats that could form commercial space stations, ferry astronauts to deep space destinations, and even protect explorers on the surface of Mars. The 1,413-kilogram BEAM structure rode to the space station inside the Dragon spacecraft’s unpressurized trunk section. Now in total, six spacecraft ar ... Read more »