At 9:56 a.m. ET, astronaut Don Pettit gently extended the station's robotic arm and captured the unmanned capsule, as the two spacecraft glided in formation about 250 miles (400 kilometers) above northwest Australia.

"Looks like we got us a dragon by the tail," Pettit told the cheering crowd at mission control in Houston shortly after the maneuver.

(Related: "Robot Arm to Grab Robotic Ship—A Space Station First.")

The ISS crew then used external cameras and high-powered binoculars to inspect Dragon and clear the craft for docking with the station's Harmony module.

After being pulled slowly into position, Dragon was securely bolted to the ISS as of 12:02 p.m. ET—making the craft a temporary "part" of the space station, according to NASA.

"The Dragon