US aerospace giant Northrop Grumman has reported that its Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2) spacecraft has successfully docked with the Intelsat 10-02 (IS-10-02) telecommunications satellite. MEV-2 will extend the life of IS-10-02, which was running out of fuel (having been launched in 2004) but was otherwise healthy. This is the second time a MEV has successfully docked with a satellite, to extend its life. MEV-1 docked with Intelsat 901 in February last year. However, the MEV-2/IS-10-02 docking was the first such manoeuvre to take place with the telecommunications satellite still in its operational, geosynchronous, orbit.
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