Shāf got close enough for government work -- so to speak.
It is the new international standard spacecraft dock.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/oct/HQ_10-266_Docking_Standards.htmlThis docking port is designed for use by both manned and unmanned vehicles and NASA hopes it will greatly simplify this aspect of international missions. NASA took the first steps in the 70's toward making international missions more practical. At the time the Apollo capsules used an atmosphere of 100% oxygen at very low pressure while the Soviets used an earth like mix of oxygen and nitrogen at sea level pressure. This required an airlock to be used between the spacecraft on the world's first international mission, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program. When NASA designed the Space Shuttle (and later worked on the International Space Station) they adopted the earth-like air pressure as the norm.
Now with a "universal" dock, "shirtsleeve" movement between independently designed spacecraft will be easier.
Hmm.. interesting... An early Roomba? Half of one of those plastic wheels that always fall off cheap office chairs?
