SpaceX prepares resupply mission to ISS
The Falcon 9 rocket is expected to blast off from the Kennedy Space Center at 9:29 p.m., EST and arrive at the orbiting laboratory at 10:15 a.m. EST.
The robot Dragon space capsule will dock with the ISS full of food, supplies, and equipment for the current crew, as well as an instrument to examine solar winds and how they form.
"Dragon also delivers Antarctic moss to observe the combined effects of cosmic radiation and microgravity on plants," NASA said in a statement. "Other investigations aboard include a device to test cold welding of metals in microgravity, and an investigation that studies how space impacts different materials."
This would be SpaceX's 31st resupply trip to the International Space Station for NASA. It will also mark the fifth time the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket booster was used. It was also used to get SpaceXCrew-8 off the ground and private Polaris Dawn flight and two Starlink satellite missions before safely landing to Earth.
The reuse of the first stage booster was unheard of before SpaceX mastered the automated return to land on drone ships off the Florida and California coast for reuse, driving down the cost of the average space flight.
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