Washington, July 28, 2019, SPA -- Wrapping up a two-day rendezvous, a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship caught up with the International Space Station Saturday, bringing 5,000 pounds of equipment and supplies to the outpost including a new docking mechanism that will provide a second port for commercial crew ships being built by Boeing and SpaceX. Sailing 260 miles above the southern tip of South America, the unpiloted Dragon pulled up to within about 30 feet of the lab complex and then stood by while astronaut Nick Hague, operating the station's Canadian-built robot arm, locked onto a grapple fixture. Flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston then took over arm operations, remotely controlling the space crane to pull the Dragon in for berthing at the Harmony module's Earth-facing port. The hatch opening is expected Sunday, but the astronauts could move that up depending on their weekend schedule. Launched Thursday from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a Falcon 9 rocket, the Dragon was loaded with 1,600 pounds of science gear and equipment, 830 pounds of spare parts and other station components, 600 pounds of crew supplies and another 440 pounds of spacewalk gear, including refurbished suit components. The 1,170 pound docking adapter was carried into orbit mounted inside the Dragon's unpressurized trunk section. It will be removed by the station's robot arm later and attached to the Harmony module's upper port during a spacewalk next month. --SPA 03:22 LOCAL TIME 00:22 GMT 0017 www.spa.gov.sa/w1145442