SpaceX cargo arrives at ISS

Washington: Carrying nearly 3,175 kg of cargo including an expandable habitat known as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), crucial for future deep space exploration, SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday.

The spacecraft was successfully docked by European astronaut Tim Peake using the orbiting lab's robotic arm, with help from US astronaut Jeff Williams, Xinhua quoted the US space agency NASA as saying. Another US commercial cargo ship called Cygnus has been attached to the station since March 26.

Two Russian Soyuz crew capsules and two Progress cargo ships are also docked at the moment. As a result, "Dragon' s arrival marks the first time two commercial cargo vehicles have been docked simultaneously at the space station," NASA said.

"With the arrival of Dragon, the space station ties the record for most vehicles on station at one time -- six," said NASA. The last time six vehicles were docked to the station was back in the space shuttle era, when Discovery visited in February 2011.

The 1,400 kg BEAM is a $17.8 million project that will test the use of an inflatable space habitat in micro-gravity. BEAM is expected to be filled with air to expand four and a half times its original volume at the end of May after being attached to the ISS.

During its two-year test mission, astronauts will enter the module for a few hours several times a year to retrieve sensor data and assess conditions.