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Watch Two Live Webcasts Of Spacecraft Docking At International Space Station This Week

We can watch from the comfort (and safety!) of our computer chairs as two robotic spacecraft deliver essential supplies to the International Space Station this week thanks to NASA TV. Simply follow that link to watch live coverage of the spacecraft docking at the times listed below.

The first spacecraft to dock at the International Space Station this week will be the Japanese Space Agency’s (JAXA) HTV- 2 spacecraft. At the time of preparing this blog, the HTV-2 craft was scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station and be grabbed by the Space Station’s largest robotic arm Thursday night (27 January 2011) at 9.44pm AEST (add one hour if your location follows ‘Summer Time’). It will be then attached to the International Space Station a couple of hours later. Further information about the HTV-2 mission can be found online on the JAXA website (Mission press release kit here (8.9 M Acrobat PDF format)).

Image courtesy NASA. Backdropped by a blue and white part of Earth, the unpiloted Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) approaches the International Space Station. Once the HTV was in range, NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk and European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne, all Expedition 20 flight engineers, used the station's robotic arm to grab the cargo craft and attach it to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony node. The attachment was completed at 5:26 (CDT) on Sept. 17, 2009.

The second robotic spacecraft to dock at the International Space Station this week will be the Russian Progress 41 spacecraft. Progress 41 is scheduled to be launched aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Friday 28 January 2011 at 11.31am AEST (add one hour if your location follows ‘Summer Time’). It is then scheduled to dock at the International Space Station on Sunday 30 January at 12.40pm AEST (add one hour if your location follows ‘Summer Time’).

ISS01-324-002 (18 November 2000) --- A Progress supply ship linked up to the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) at 3:48 GMT, November 18, bringing Expedition One commander William M. Shepherd, pilot Yuri P. Gidzenko and flight engineer Sergei K. Krikalev two tons of food, clothing, hardware and holiday gifts from their families. The photograph was taken with a 35mm camera and the film was later handed over to the STS-97 crew members for return to Earth and subsequent processing. Image courtesy NASA.

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