SpaceX’s newest Dragon X cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) early Sunday (November 27) to deliver tons of new supplies, new solar wings, and even some ice cream to the orbiting lab.
Robot Dragon spaceship The rover docked at the orbiting laboratory on Sunday at about 7:39 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT), as both vehicles flew high over the Pacific Ocean.
“We look forward to unpacking and getting to work,” said NASA Mission Contro astronaut Josh Casada of the station after the successful docking.
“We hope you will soon be enjoying this much-anticipated ice cream,” Megan Harvey of Mission Control responded.
Sunday’s rendezvous ended a short orbital chase for Dragon; a SpaceX Cargo ship released above one Falcon 9 Rocket on Saturday afternoon (November 26) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Related: See the evolution of SpaceX’s rockets in the photos
The Dragon is packed with approximately 7,700 lb (3,500 kg) of cargo. The ad includes two new ones International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs), equipment designed to augment existing solar wings at the orbiting laboratory.
The ISS station will eventually house six iROSAs, which together will increase the station’s power supply by 20% to 30%. Astronauts in space have installed two of the new arrays so far.
Dragon also delivered a variety of science experiments to the International Space Station on this flight. For example, one ongoing study in season would grow dwarf cherry tomatoes from seed in an effort to help increase food production from the ground. Another investigation will continue in ancient microgravity Research using 3D heart tissue (Opens in a new tab)Testing potential treatments that may prevent or slow the progression of heart disease.
The current Dragon mission is called CRS-26 because it is Flight 26 with a robotic payload flown by SpaceX to the NASA International Space Station. CRS-26 was scheduled to take off on Tuesday (November 22), but it was I paid because of bad weather🇧🇷
NASA officials said Cargo Dragons usually dock at the International Space Station for about a month, but CRS-26 will remain airborne for 45 days or more. The extra time was set aside, in part, to allow the spacewalks needed to install iROSAs.
CRS-26 will end up in the ocean mist with the help of a parachute. Dragon is the only currently operational cargo ship that returns to Earth in One Piece after its missions. The other two active cargo planes — Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus and Russia’s Progress — are designed to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere when their time in orbit ends.
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