WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The SpaceX's upgraded Dragon cargo spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday in its first mission.

The upgraded Dragon cargo ship autonomously docked to the ISS at 1:40 p.m. EST.

This is the first automated docking for a SpaceX cargo resupply mission and the first time two Dragon spacecraft are on station simultaneously, said NASA.

NASA and SpaceX launched the first mission of the upgraded Dragon cargo on Sunday, from historic Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mission, dubbed CRS-21, is the first flight of the updated cargo version of Dragon, which is capable of carrying about 20 percent more volume than the previous version of Dragon and has double the amount of powered locker cargo capability.