'Dragon captured' as cargo arrives at space station

"And that is confirmed capture," said a NASA commentator as space station's robotic arm grabbed the spaceship at 6:52 am (1052 GMT).

The spaceship blasted off Monday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying food, science experiments and other gear for the astronauts living in orbit.

It is the 12th mission for SpaceX under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

A key part of the cargo is a sophisticated supercomputer made by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), called The Spaceborne Computer.

Researchers want to see if the computer can survive the harsh conditions of space, and whether it could one day help astronauts navigate long missions in deep space, whether around the Moon or to Mars.