SpaceX Cargo Capsule Reaches International Space Station

Despite having some trouble with maneuvering thrusters a few days ago, SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule has successfully reached the International Space Station. from the article: "Astronauts aboard the outpost used the station's robotic arm to pluck the capsule from orbit at 5:31 a.m. EST as the ships sailed 250 miles over northern Ukraine. Flight controllers at NASA's Mission Control in Houston then stepped in to drive the capsule to its berthing port on the station's Harmony connecting node."

Congrats!

[CryptoJones]

Congrats SpaceX and their NASA Counterparts!

Re:Nice work ...

[ender06]

Orbital Sciences' Cygnus freighter is one time use, so throwaway. Don't understand all the throwaway freighters, it's like throwing away your semi-truck after every shipment.

Re:Nice work ...

[Nutria]

Don't understand all the throwaway freighters, it's like throwing away your semi-truck after every shipment.

Truckers would readily throw away their trucks on every voyage if it were insanely expensive and difficult to bring them back in any kind of functional condition.

And that's exactly why we use single-use rockets.

Re:Nice work ...

[ZankerH]

It's really a misnomer to call the space shuttle reusable. "Rebuildability" is more like it. The things had to spend months after each flight being torn apart and having every part inspected over and over and a big chunk of them replaced.
The key to economic space flight is full and rapid reusability. Payload launchers need to become as reusable as passenger aeroplanes for space flight to become routine.

Re:Nice work ...

[Nutria]

If it's so insanely expensive and difficult, then why is SpaceX working on just that, a reusable rocket?

Because it's a worthwhile goal, which IMNSHO SpaceX is working on in the proper method: incrementally from simple, known-working parts.

That was the idea behind the shuttle. Didn't work out so well, but that was the idea.

Many at NASA in the 1970s should be flogged for over-promising and under-budgeting a single-stage-to-orbit "truck".

Re:Nice work ...

[ender06]

Really, do you have evidence for that, or are you just saying that because you don't like them for whatever reason?

Re:Nice work ...

[strack]

you think that the small amount spacex is spending compared to the shuttle means its rockets are unsafe. what it actually means is its a good design, which costs a lot less to make safe compared to the shuttle, which is a bad design, that cost a incredibly large amount of money to make sorta, kinda, not really, safe.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Could you explain?

[robbak]

SpaceX built and lauched the rocket into an initial orbit, had a problem with the capsule's booster's supply of propellant that they were able to fix, and delivered the capsule to the right point, orbiting alongside ISS within reach of it's Canadarm, a little later than originally scheduled.

In what way did SpaceX not succeed? And who, in your opinion, was the party who 'saved' this mission?

I agree that, while SpaceX is establishing a good record of recovering from issues, it would be better if they could develop a record of not having issues!