Cargo ship launched to space station with science gear, holiday treats

SpaceX launched an unpiloted Dragon cargo vessel Monday evening, an predetermination eve formation to present 3 tons of unit supplies, subject cogwheel and different instrumentality to nan International Space Station, including an different woody satellite, a star upwind show and vacation fare for nan lab's crew.

The Dragon's Falcon 9 rocket blasted disconnected from historical motorboat pad 39A astatine nan Kennedy Space Center astatine 9:29 p.m. EST, lighting up nan nighttime entity for miles astir arsenic it climbed distant atop 1.7 cardinal pounds of thrust.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket streaks toward abstraction aft motorboat from nan Kennedy Space Center, carrying an unpiloted Dragon cargo vessel into orbit carrying 6,000 pounds of supplies and instrumentality bound for an Election Day rendezvous pinch nan International Space Station. NASA/SpaceX

After boosting nan rocket retired of nan dense little atmosphere, nan first stage, making its 5th flight, peeled away, reversed people and headed backmost to an on-target landing astatine nan Cape Canaveral Space Force Station while nan 2nd shape continued nan climb to space.

The landing marked SpaceX's 57th successful booster betterment astatine nan Florida Space Force position and its 363rd overall, including California flights and droneship landings.

The Falcon 9's first shape boosted nan rocket retired of nan dense little ambiance and past autumn away, restarting 3 of its 9 engines (bright dot astatine apical center) to statesman reversing people to caput backmost to Cape Canaveral for landing. In this search camera view, nan exhaust plumes of some stages interacted successful spectacular manner successful nan debased unit of nan utmost precocious ambiance arsenic nan 2nd shape (right dot astatine little center) continued nan climb to orbit. Spaceflight Now

Just nether 10 minutes aft liftoff, nan vacuum-optimized motor powering nan Falcon 9's 2nd shape unopen down and 1 infinitesimal later, nan Dragon was released to alert connected its own. If each goes well, it will drawback up pinch nan abstraction position Tuesday greeting and move successful for docking astatine nan lab's guardant larboard astatine 10:15 a.m.

One of nan first items connected nan schedule is simply a trial Friday to find nan Cargo Dragon's expertise to boost nan abstraction station's orbit somewhat utilizing its aft-facing thrusters. The ISS is routinely re-boosted by Russian Progress freighters and Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ships, but Friday's trial will beryllium a first for SpaceX.

The California rocket builder is nether statement to NASA to build a powerful abstraction tug of sorts that tin beryllium utilized to safely thrust nan ISS backmost into nan ambiance erstwhile nan laboratory analyzable is retired successful nan 2030 timeframe. The conveyance is needed to make judge nan position breaks up complete a agelong of water good distant from populated areas and shipping lanes.

During nan trial Friday, nan Cargo Dragon's aft thrusters will occurrence for astir 12 minutes.

"The information that we're going to cod from this reboost and cognition power objection will beryllium very helpful, informing SpaceX analyses connected really nan strategy performs," said Jared Metter, SpaceX head of formation reliability. "This information is going to lead to early capabilities, namely nan US de-orbit vehicle."

Reboost aside, nan Cargo Dragon is loaded pinch somewhat much than 6,000 pounds of instrumentality and supplies, including 2,022 pounds of subject gear, 2,119 pounds of unit clothing, nutrient and different supplies, 377 pounds of spacewalk equipment, 525 pounds of abstraction position hardware and 44 pounds of machine equipment.

One of nan much different payloads: Lignosat, a mini wooden satellite utilizing a model of magnolia panels built by researchers astatine Kyoto University successful Japan and nan Tokyo-based logging institution Sumitomo.

An experimental outer built pinch a model of magnolia will beryllium studied to find really it withstands nan somesthesia extremes successful abstraction to find if wood mightiness supply a sustainable worldly for usage successful early abstraction systems. STR/JIJI PRESS / AFP via Getty Images

"While immoderate of you mightiness deliberation that wood successful abstraction seems a small counterintuitive, researchers dream that this investigation demonstrates that a woody outer tin beryllium much sustainable and little polluting for nan situation than accepted satellites," said Meghan Everett, nan ISS lawman task scientist.

"The main nonsubjective present is to find whether wood tin beryllium utilized successful space, and to do this, researchers will measurement nan somesthesia and strain of nan woody building and spot really it mightiness alteration successful nan vacuum situation of abstraction pinch atomic oxygen and radiation conditions arsenic well."

As pinch each station-bound Dragon cargo ships, nan unit supplies see caller nutrient and typical treats for vacation meals.

Bill Spetch, ISS operations and integration manager, said nan "food kit" includes "citrus, apples, saccharine onions, blueberries, radishes, etc," on pinch lobster, crab and quail for vacation meals. A assortment of cheeses is connected committee arsenic good arsenic caller java and individual items requested by each unit member.

Mounted successful nan Dragon's unpressurized trunk conception is nan Coronal Diagnostic Experiment, aliases CODEX, an instrumentality that will beryllium mounted extracurricular nan abstraction position to study much astir really charged particles successful nan star upwind are heated to millions of degrees and accelerated to tremendous velocities, affecting Earth's abstraction situation and nan remainder of nan star system.

Inside nan station, nan astronauts will person a assortment of caller experiments and instruments to run and monitor, including 1 called ARTEMOSS that will analyse really Antarctic moss tolerates nan abstraction radiation and microgravity situation to study much astir really plants mightiness beryllium utilized successful early life support systems.

The European Space Agency is sending up a abstraction vulnerability research to study much astir really high-tech materials respond to prolonged vulnerability to nan weightless situation and different research to study really integrated samples degrade erstwhile exposed to unfiltered ultraviolet ray from nan sun.

And successful an research that could beryllium peculiarly useful to early astronauts, a mini instrumentality known arsenic Nanolab Astrobeat, provided by nan Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, will trial acold welding exertion that could beryllium useful for repairing leaks aliases different harm from wrong a spacecraft.

The Cargo Dragon is expected to stay docked astatine nan abstraction position for astir a period earlier it returns to Earth pinch position components needing refurbishment, trash and different no-longer-needed items.

In:
• Spacewalk
• International Space Station
• Space
• NASA