SpaceX on Saturday launched a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral. The mission is aimed at delivering supplies, science investigations and equipment.
The flight was the 26th commercial resupply mission of SpaceX. The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon cargo spacecraft lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA revealed that the Dragon will deliver more than 7,700 pounds of cargo. The crew aboard the space station will get nutrients, NASA investigations, supplies, equipment, etc. The flight will also provide the next pair of ISS Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs).
As per NASA, the aircraft is expected to spend a month in space, attached to the orbiting ISS. It will return to Earth with research and return cargo. The aircraft will get splashed down off the coast of Florida.
From tomato seeds to the Moon Microscope kit, a number of items will be delivered by the Dragon to the space station for science experiments.
iROSAs will remain to be one of the main attractions. For the unversed, two International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays were installed in 2021. As per NASA, “These solar panels, which roll out using stored kinetic energy, expand the energy-production capabilities of the space station.”
The US-based space agency further noted that once the second set is installed, it will provide a 20% to 30% increase in power for space station research and operations.
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