NASA astronaut Jonny Kim has shared some sublime footage (below) of the International Space Station’s robotic Canadarm2 “dancing” above Earth.
According to Kim, the 49-second timelapse, which uses more than two hours of footage, was recorded while Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston practiced various maneuvers in preparation for capturing the NG-23 Cygnus spacecraft in the coming days.
“In advance of the NG-23 Cygnus capture with the Canadarm, Houston gave our crew onboard an opportunity to practice moving the arm and capturing a simulated grapple fixture (i.e. target),” Kim wrote in a post on X.
In advance of the NG-23 cygnus capture with the Canadarm, Houston gave our crew onboard an opportunity to practice moving the arm and capturing a simulated grapple fixture (i.e. target). This is a timelapse over 2 hours capturing Houston maneuvering the Canadarm for this… pic.twitter.com/jIOdKI4MkX
— Jonny Kim (@JonnyKimUSA) November 21, 2025
Set to music, we can see the robotic arm performing a range of moves as it passes over Earth some 250 miles below.
The Cygnus NG-23 cargo spacecraft arrived at the ISS in September and is set to remain at the orbital outpost until March next year. However, the spacecraft will soon be temporarily unberthed from the station’s Unity module to clear a path for the incoming Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft, which will dock with the Rassvet module on the Russian part of the space station.
For the uninitiated, the Canadarm2 is a vital part of the space station’s equipment and over the years has been used for multiple spacecraft maneuvers and astronaut activities.
During ISS spacewalks, for example, Canadarm2 functions as a movable work platform with foot-restraints, handrails, and safety tether attachment points that allow astronauts to be safely transported and positioned on the outside of the ISS for maintenance work and other tasks.
The 17-meter-long robotic device is actually mobile and can “walk” around the station by moving end-over-end, using grapple fixtures located throughout the station to anchor itself as it moves.
Besides teams on the ground at NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, the arm cab also be controlled by astronauts on board the ISS.
Operating at the ISS for more than two decades, the Canadarm2 is now so deeply embedded in Canadian culture as a symbol of the nation’s innovation and pride in space technology that it appears on Canadian stamps and also its $5 banknote.
