The Dragon capsule of the American space shuttle and rocket manufacturer SpaceX was sent to the International Space Station with about 4 tons of food and experimental materials.
The Falcon 9 rocket liftoff from the Kennedy Space Station in Florida, USA, took place at 22.20 pm.
If all goes well, the Dragon capsule will dock with the Harmony module on the International Space Station at 15.30 tomorrow with about 4 tons of food and experimental materials. Astronauts on the space station will open the hatches and begin unloading the cargo from the pressurized compartment of the Dragon spacecraft.
The capsule contains food supplies for the astronauts serving on the space station, as well as seeds of the small red Robin tomato variety for a test of growing vegetables in zero gravity.
The capsule also includes a portable handheld microscope to help astronauts collect medical images of blood samples, technological tools to collect data for the construction of flexible structures in space, and two new solar panels called “iROSA” to upgrade the station’s power system.
The solar panels will be installed outside the floating laboratory during spacewalks scheduled for November 29 and December 3.
At the end of the mission, the reusable Dragon capsule will detach from the station with several tons of cargo and parachute off the coast of Florida in early January.
SpaceX has made more than two dozen resupply launches to the space station over the past 10 years as part of a multi-billion dollar deal with NASA.
Aside from resupply launches, SpaceX has had its busiest year to date with 52 launches so far this year, including two astronaut missions.
