Private Cygnus Spaceship Delivers NASA Cargo to Space Station

07-17-2014 • http://www.space.com, By Tariq Malik

The unmanned Cygnus cargo ship was captured by astronauts using the station's robotic arm at 6:36 a.m. EDT (1036 GMT) as both spacecraft sailed over Libya at an altitude of 260 miles (418 kilometers). The capsule was attached to an open docking port about two hours later.

"We got it!" station astronaut Alexander Gerst of Germany exclaimed on Twitter, where he posted a photo of the Cygnus at the end of the station's arm.

"Houston, Station … we now have a seventh crewmember," space station commander Steve Swanson of NASA radioed to Mission Control. "The SS Janice Voss is on space station."

Orbital Sciences named this Cygnus spacecraft in honor space shuttle astronaut Janice Voss, who died in 2012. Voss flew on five NASA shuttle missions, but never visited the space station during her astronaut career.