Space station receives first U.S. shipment since rocket explosion

The International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday received its first U.S. shipment, including food and Christmas presents, since two private U.S. space firms each recently suffered a failure on their cargo delivery missions, U.S. space agency NASA said.

The unmanned Cygnus spacecraft, operated by Virginia-based Orbital ATK, arrived at the space station at about 6:19 a.m. EST (1119 GMT) after three days of chasing the orbital laboratory in space, NASA said.

Cygnus was successfully grappled by NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, using the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm, it said.

The spacecraft is carrying about 3,500 kg of materials, which could be stocked well into May, to resupply the space station, where food would run out in months without replenishment.

This marked the first of two Christmas space deliveries. The next holiday shipment will be delivered on Dec. 23 by Russia's Progress 62 resupply ship.

Cygnus was launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Sunday. It will remain connected to the space station for more than a month before its destructive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, disposing about 1,360 kilograms of trash.

Orbital ATK is one of the two commercial companies hired by NASA to fly cargo to the ISS after the space shuttles were retired. Its third CRS mission using the company's own Antares rocket was destroyed in a launch explosion in October last year.

The other company, SpaceX, is recovering from a similar launch explosion in June this year. NASA said the first Dragon flight after the failure will be no earlier than Jan. 8 next year. Endi