An unmanned NASA cargo spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday (Feb. 22), sending more than 3,600 kilograms of research equipment and supplies to the Earth-bound experimental station.
The spacecraft, built by aerospace company Northrop Grumman, docked with the Earth-facing hatch of the ISS shortly after its arrival.
In addition to the station’s basic supplies, the ship’s cargo also included equipment needed to conduct scientific research, including the manufacture of artificial retinas used to treat degenerative human eye diseases, research into zero-gravity advanced computer capabilities and microgravity experiments with small bugs to examine the causes of muscle degeneration experienced by the astronauts.
Northrop Grumman named the resupply spacecraft S.S. Katherine Johnson. Johnson was a NASA African-American mathematician whose exploits were depicted in the movie Hidden Figures. The arithmetic she performed contributed to the spaceflight mission that made John Glenn the first American to orbit Earth on Feb. 20, 1962.
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