Liftoff Videos

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Mobile Servicing System

Canadarm2 with the Dextre robot on its end, on the International Space Station, 2017.

Photo: NASA / Public domain (US government work)

The Mobile Servicing System is the robotic system on the International Space Station, supplied by Canada and launched to the station in 2001. It plays a key role in assembly and maintenance, moving equipment and supplies, supporting astronauts in space and servicing instruments and payloads. It has three parts: Canadarm2, the Mobile Remote Servicer Base System and the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, nicknamed Dextre or the Canada hand. The whole system rides on rails along the Integrated Truss Structure, on the Mobile Transporter cart. Astronauts get specialised training to operate it.

Data as of 2 November 2026. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Videos on this topic

The videos, in date order

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  1. ISS History: Assembly, Crises and the Plan to Deorbit by 2030

    Classic Aerospace History

  2. How the ISS Was Assembled: Modules, Gyros, Canadarm2 and Cooling

    Real Engineering
Play video: How the ISS Was Assembled: Modules, Gyros, Canadarm2 and Cooling

How the ISS Was Assembled: Modules, Gyros, Canadarm2 and Cooling

Real Engineering

Duration 36:05

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Dates are when each video was first published on YouTube.

All the videos

  1. ISS History: Assembly, Crises and the Plan to Deorbit by 2030

    DocumentaryClassic Aerospace History · 1:13:57

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