SpaceX eying another trip to ISS
Source: Agencies |
October 8, 2012, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A PRIVATE company was on the verge of launching another cargo ship to the International Space Station.
California-based SpaceX was due last night to attempt to send a Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab and its three-member crew.
Liftoff of the company's unmanned Falcon rocket was set for last night. Forecasters put the odds of acceptable weather at 60 percent. Thick clouds and rain were the main concerns.
A Dragon cargo ship successfully docked to the space station last May, but that was considered a test flight. Last night's mission was the first under a US$1.6 billion contract with NASA that calls for a dozen resupply flights by SpaceX, essential in the post-shuttle era.
"We got there once. We demonstrated we could do it, so there might be a teeny, teeny bit of relaxation. Not a lot, though," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said on Saturday night.
NASA was monitoring a potentially threatening piece of orbiting junk, but said that even if the space station had to steer clear of the object, that would not delay the SpaceX mission.
This newest Dragon will haul about 453.6 kilograms of food, clothes and gear, including ice cream for the American, Russian and Japanese astronauts on board. The ice cream will go up in freezers meant for research. Almost twice as much cargo will come back.
California-based SpaceX was due last night to attempt to send a Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab and its three-member crew.
Liftoff of the company's unmanned Falcon rocket was set for last night. Forecasters put the odds of acceptable weather at 60 percent. Thick clouds and rain were the main concerns.
A Dragon cargo ship successfully docked to the space station last May, but that was considered a test flight. Last night's mission was the first under a US$1.6 billion contract with NASA that calls for a dozen resupply flights by SpaceX, essential in the post-shuttle era.
"We got there once. We demonstrated we could do it, so there might be a teeny, teeny bit of relaxation. Not a lot, though," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said on Saturday night.
NASA was monitoring a potentially threatening piece of orbiting junk, but said that even if the space station had to steer clear of the object, that would not delay the SpaceX mission.
This newest Dragon will haul about 453.6 kilograms of food, clothes and gear, including ice cream for the American, Russian and Japanese astronauts on board. The ice cream will go up in freezers meant for research. Almost twice as much cargo will come back.
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