Docking standard for the International Space Station

This is not actually the interface that is used on the Dragon. This is a docking mechanism, which allows autonomous connections between two spacecraft. The Dragon uses the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) which requires assistance from a manipulator arm to mate the two spacecraft.<p>One of the reasons the CBM was chosen for the resupply ships (including Dragon) is that the CBM has a larger inside diameter and so larger pieces of equipment (such as standard equipment racks) can be delivered through it, while the docking connectors cannot pass them.

Clearly, section 3.2.1 is the most important part:<p><i>All dimensions are in millimeters. All angular dimensions are in degrees</i><p>Implementors in non-metric countries, take note. Nothing is more annoying than arriving at a place where you might want to use your docking interface, only to find out it doesn't work. :)

Is it just me or does this docking design look overly complex and easily damaged by a docking miss? I am partial to designs with as few moving parts as possible. Maybe I am nieve to the needs of space docking too.

&#62; Vehicles using this interface may include light vehicles in the range of 5-8K kg, and medium vehicles in the range of 8-25K kg. These vehicles will dock to each other, to large space complexes in the range of 100-375K kg, and to large earth departure stages in the range of 33-170K kg.<p>I've never seen "K kg" stand for metric tonnes before. Two Ks of different cases both standing for "kilo-" therefore meaning "kilokilogram"? At first I thought "five kilograms is quite small for a spaceship" and then I had to re-read it. To say nothing of the fact that "K" means Kelvin, not kilo-.<p>On the other hand, what are the other options? "Mg" for "megagram"?

Mating Interface Definition.. Androgynous Docking System.. Soft Capturing..Hard Capturing.. Someone in NASA was watching porn when they wrote this.

That's refreshing -- we're sending things into space from a readable 31-page spec (with pictures!). RFC authors, take note.

It'll be fun watching the Dragon docking live while following along with this document.

I think this is the protocol that Dragon is following on the current mission:<p><a href="http://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/design_lib/SSP50235.ISSvehicleIDD.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/design_lib/SSP50235.ISSvehicle...</a>

We're living the future, guys.

I don't want to be the immature one here -- but I can't help but feel there is a "yo momma" joke in there somewhere