Tonight's plan for Dragon

After that spectacular fly-by, Dragon went into an orbit that went above the Space Station. Tonight, the capsule will once again be brought to 2.5 km away. At that point, a shift in the command structure occurs. Up to this point, Dragon has been commanded by SpaceX. "Integrated operations" will start at the 2.5km point, where NASA will be making all the go/no-go decisions. Here is a diagram from NASA TV of the approach plan:

 

The next thing will be a detailed test of abort response: "will it back off if we tell it to?" Here's a diagram  of those demonstration maneuvers:

Assuming all goes well, Dragon will then be allowed inside the safety zone. It will hold at 30 meters. Then, finally, it will approach to a point only 10 meters away. There, astronaut Don Pettit will grab Dragon with the Station's robotic manipulator arm. Here's a picture of what that will look like, from SpaceX's press kit:

Remember, you can watch the whole thing LIVE on NASA TV beginning at 2:30 AM Eastern time. Space is better than sleep! But if you can't stay up, I'll let you know how it went in the morning.