Europe's last Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-5, Georges Lemaitre, successfully docked itself at the International Space Station on August 12, a maneuver that was broadcasted live on the web.
The historic 32-foot tall (9.8-m), 13.5-ton (12,247-kg) freighter ATV launched on July 29 from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, according to Reuters.
"It's a big event for us," European astronaut Alexander Gerst, one of six men currently aboard the ISS, said during an in-flight interview last week, according to Reuters.
The Georges Lemaitre ATV was named after the father of the Big Bang theory of how the Universe was formed. It is considered the most complex spacecraft ever built in Europe.
ATV-5 is the fifth and final mission of the European ATV program.
Gerst and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov inside the space station supervised the unmanned cargo ship, which autonomously docked itself, along with mission control in Toulouse, France, according to Reuters
"From 39 km to just 250 m from the Station, ATV navigated itself using relative satnav signals, in which both the Station and ATV compare their positions using GPS", said Jean-Michel Bois, leader of the ESA operations team at the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France.
The cargo compartment was filled with 7.2 tons of spare parts, breathable gases, propellants, drinking water, clothing, science experiments, and food for the six ISS crew.
Once the cargo is unloaded from the capsule, it can be used for additional living and working space for astronauts and use its on-board engines to boost the altitude of the space station.
Sometime in late January, the spacecraft will undock and burn up in a controlled re-entry over the South Pacific with garbage and human waste.
ATV was latched onto with hooks after docking with the space station, according to Reuters.
The U.S. plans on keeping the station operational until at least 2024. Russia and the other partners' commitments currently run through 2020.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?