US-based aerospace company SpaceX has launched its Dragon cargo craft on a Falcon Nine rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as part of the company’s Commercial Resupply Services-9 (CRS-9) mission.
Set to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS), the 5,000lb of cargo includes instruments that would help perform the first-ever DNA sequencing in space, and the first international docking adapter for commercial spacecraft.
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The mission, which is SpaceX’s ninth cargo flight to the space station under NASA's commercial resupply services (CRS) contract, will be executed by NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and supported by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins.
NASA ISS programme manager Kirk Shireman said: “Each commercial resupply flight to the space station is a significant event.
“Everything, from the science to the spare hardware and crew supplies, is vital for sustaining our mission.
“With equipment to enable novel experiments never attempted before in space, and an international docking adapter vital to the future of US commercial crew spacecraft, we're thrilled this Dragon has successfully taken flight.”
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By GlobalDataDuring the course of the station's Expeditions 48 and 49, SpaceX’s Dragon's cargo will support several of the over 250 science and research investigations.
So far, DNA testing on the space station required collecting samples at the station and returning them to Earth; however, the Biomolecule Sequencer aims at demonstrating, for the first time, that DNA sequencing is possible even in microgravity by using a crew-operated, miniaturised device to identify microbes, diagnose diseases, monitor crew health, thereby making it possible to detect DNA-based life off the Earth.
Also, the phase change heat exchanger, a NASA investigation to test temperature control technology for future spacecraft, uses a continual process of freezing and thawing in a bid to maintain temperatures inside a spacecraft that would help protect both crew and equipment.
As part of the launch, the crew also will examine a new, effective, three-dimensional solar cell.
