> Dragon is berthed, it does not dock Strictly, any man-made vessel that can maneuver independently can be docked, one only needs a larger vessel or facility t

> Dragon is berthed, it does not dock Strictly, any man-made vessel that can maneuver independently can be docked, one only needs a larger vessel or facility that can receive it. That any man-made vessel can be docked follows from the fact that it is man-made: some sort of contraption was used to hold it during manufacture, and then it was removed. So long as I can make a vessel big enough to reproduce that environment, I can dock the smaller vessel. The need for the ability to independently maneuver comes from the legal nature of the issue. At some point, legal responsibility for the vessel transfers from the captain or pilot to the dockmaster. In conventional shipping, that point is when the bow crosses the plane of the dock's gate. When a vessel is berthed, some mechanism bridges the gap between the facility and the vessel, like ropes, or, in the case of the Dragon Cargo, a robotic arm manipulated from the station.