Christmas comes late for astronauts aboard International Space Station as Cygnus capsule arrives

CHRISTMAS has finally arrived for the six space station astronauts.

Space Station

CHRISTMAS has finally arrived for the six space station astronauts.

A privately launched supply ship arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday night AEDT, three days after blasting off from Virginia. The space station crew used a hefty robot arm to capture the Cygnus capsule as the two craft zoomed side by side at 28,200km/h.

The Cygnus is carrying 1360kg of equipment and experiments, including ants for an educational project. Also on board: eagerly awaited Christmas presents for all six spacemen.

Orbital Sciences Corp. was supposed to make the delivery last month, well before Christmas. But the Virginia company had to wait a month. A space station breakdown in mid-December took priority, and NASA bumped the flight to January in order to repair the disabled cooling system at the orbiting outpost. Then frigid weather at the launch site forced a delay. Then a strong solar storm interfered.

Launch controllers for Orbital Sciences broke into applause once robot arm operator Michael Hopkins grabbed onto the Cygnus, about 420km above the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar. The next major step was to bolt the capsule down onto the space station.

Because of the long day, the astronauts were supposed to wait until Monday before opening the hatch to Cygnus. But with presents from their families awaiting them, there was no telling whether they would oblige.

As a holiday treat, NASA stashed away fresh fruit for the two Americans, three Russians and one Japanese, and Orbital Sciences included a few surprises of its own.

This is the second visit by an Orbital Sciences cargo ship. The first was a test run last September; this one is the first official supply run under a $US1.9 billion ($2.1 billion) contract with NASA.

The Cygnus will be filled with trash and cut loose for a fiery, destructive re-entry by the end of February.

NASA is paying Orbital Sciences and the California-based SpaceX company to keep the space station well stocked. SpaceX will make its fourth delivery next month, launching from Cape Canaveral. Russia, Japan and Europe also make periodic deliveries.

This Cygnus is named for the late shuttle astronaut C. Gordon Fullerton, who helped conduct air-launched rockets for Orbital Sciences in the 1990s. He died in August at age 76 following a stroke. Sunday's successful link-up is a testament to Fullerton's career, Mission Control noted.