Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: SpaceX Dragon on way to ISS

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: September 21, 2014 10:41:52 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: SpaceX Dragon on way to ISS

September 21, 2014

RELEASE 14-258

NASA Cargo Launches to Space Station aboard SpaceX Resupply Mission
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon cargo spacecraft on top launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex-40 in Florida at 1:52 a.m. EDT, Sept. 21, 2014. The Dragon is carrying more than 5,000 pounds of supplies, science experiments, and technology demonstrations includes critical materials to support 255 science and research investigations during the station's Expeditions 41 and 42.
Image Credit: NASA Television

About 5,000 pounds of NASA science investigations and cargo are on their way to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. The cargo ship launched on the company's Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 1:52 a.m. EDT Sunday, Sept. 21.
The mission is the company's fourth cargo delivery flight to the space station through a $1.6 billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract. Dragon's cargo will support experiments to be conducted by the crews of space station Expeditions 41 and 42.
One of the new Earth science investigations heading to the orbital laboratory is the International Space Station-Rapid Scatterometer. ISS-RapidScat monitors ocean winds from the vantage point of the space station. This space-based scatterometer is a remote sensing instrument that uses radar pulses reflected from the ocean's surface from different angles to calculate surface wind speed and direction. This information will be useful for weather forecasting and hurricane monitoring.
Dragon also will deliver the first-ever 3-D printer in space. The technology enables parts to be manufactured quickly and cheaply in space, instead of waiting for the next cargo resupply vehicle delivery. The research team also will gain valuable insight into improving 3-D printing technology on Earth by demonstrating it in microgravity.
New biomedical hardware launched aboard the spacecraft will help facilitate prolonged biological studies in microgravity. The Rodent Research Hardware and Operations Validation (Rodent Research-1) investigation provides a platform for long-duration rodent experiments in space. These investigations examine how microgravity affects animals, providing information relevant to human spaceflight, discoveries in basic biology and knowledge that may have direct impact toward human health on Earth.
The Dragon spacecraft also will transport other biological research, including a new plant study. The Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC) hardware has supported a variety of plant growth experiments aboard the space station. The BRIC-19 investigation will focus on the growth and development in microgravity of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings, a small flowering plant related to cabbage. Because plant development on Earth is impacted by mechanical forces such as wind or a plant's own weight, researchers hope to improve understanding of how the growth responses of plants are altered by the absence of these forces when grown in microgravity.
Dragon is scheduled to be grappled at 7:04 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23, by Expedition 41 Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, using the space station's robotic arm to take hold of the spacecraft. NASA's Reid Wiseman will support Gerst in a backup position. Dragon is scheduled to depart the space station in mid-October for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, bringing from the space station almost 3,200 pounds of science, hardware and crew supplies.
The space station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. NASA recently awarded contracts to SpaceX and The Boeing Company to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station with the goal of certifying those transportation systems in 2017.
For more information about SpaceX's fourth cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/spacex
For more information about the International Space Station, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
-end-
Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov
Dan Huot
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
daniel.g.huot@nasa.gov

SpaceX Dragon on way to ISS
A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule is on its way to the International Space Station after an early Sunday launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. NASA video. Posted Sept. 21, 2014
James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY 2:50 a.m. EDT September 21, 2014

(Photo: MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY)

Roughly 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments are on their way to the International Space Station after a successful 1:52 a.m. blastoff by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The Dragon is expected to take two days to chase down the station, arriving around 7 a.m. Tuesday. A three-person crew will snare the free-floating spacecraft with a 58-foot robotic arm and attach it to a docking port for a month-long stay.
Among the cargo are 20 mice that are the first mammals to fly aboard the Dragon, part of a new rodent research program on ISS; the first 3-D printer in space; and a radar instrument that will improve hurricane forecasts.
The resupply mission is the fourth of 12 planned by SpaceX under a $1.6 billion NASA contract.
SpaceX last week won a $2.6 billion contract from NASA to launch astronauts to the outpost in an upgraded Dragon, by 2017.
The launch came on the mission's second attempt, after weather scrubbed the first try Saturday.
Sunday's forecast started out iffy but improved to near-perfect conditions within an hour of the instantaneous window at Launch Complex 40.
A quiet countdown culminated with nine Merlin 1D engines igniting with 1.3 million pounds of thrust and the 208-foot rocket rumbling northeast over the Atlantic Ocean trailing a comet-like streak of flame.
More than four minutes into the flight, the receding upper stage was still visible as a pinpoint of orange light amid a smattering of stars. Cameras showed the Dragon separate from the rocket less than 10 minutes after liftoff and then deploy its power-generating solar arrays.
SpaceX planned to try to fly the first-stage booster back to a soft ocean landing in another test of reusable rocket technology, though it did not expect to recover the booster intact.
The launch was the 13th by a Falcon 9, and SpaceX's second from the same Cape pad in two weeks. following its Sept. 7 launch of a commercial satellite. That's the company's fastest turnaround between launches yet and close to a record at the Cape, according to a company official.
SpaceX's next launch of ISS cargo is tentatively planned in December. SpaceX may have one other launch planned this year and also hopes to perform a test of the Dragon's launch abort system, a key system for future crewed flights, here before the end of the year.

Copyright © 2014 www.floridatoday.com. All rights reserved.

SpaceX station resupply mission takes off
09/21/2014 04:21 AM

Editor's note...
Posted at 02:10 AM EDT, 09/21/14: SpaceX station resupply mission takes off
Updated at 03:55 AM ET, 09/21/14: Adding SpaceX comment; fixing Soyuz launch date
By WILLIAM HARWOOD
CBS News

A SpaceX cargo ship packed with more than 5,100 pounds of equipment and supplies -- including 20 mice, a 3D printer, an environmental sensor to measure ocean winds and even an experiment that could lead to better golf clubs -- blasted off early Sunday on a two-day flight to the International Space Station.

Running a day late because of stormy weather Saturday, the 208-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket roared to life at 1:52 a.m. EDT (GMT-4) and quickly climbed away from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, arcing away to the northeast directly into the plane of the space station's orbit.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo ship bound for the International Space Station climbs away from Cape Canaveral early Sunday in this time exposure view, (Credit: SpaceX)

The Falcon's nine Merlin 1D first stage engines appeared to perform smoothly, generating 1.3 million pounds of thrust to boost the rocket and its payload out of the dense lower atmosphere.

The first stage fell away just under three minutes after liftoff and the rocket's second stage, powered by a single Merlin engine, ignited to complete the trip to orbit.

The Dragon cargo ship was released into an initially elliptical orbit with a high point, or apogee, of about 224 miles and a low point, or perigee, of around 124 miles. A few moments later, the capsule's two solar arrays unfolded and locked in place.

"Nothing like a good launch," said Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX vice president of mission assurance. "It's just fantastic. We worked very hard yesterday, and the weather wasn't quite playing along. Today it was beautiful, the weather cleared up in time, the rain dissipated and from what I can tell at first glance, everything was really perfect."

He said the Dragon capsule's thrusters were working normally and "from the SpaceX team, everybody's really happy, everybody's delighted. There's going to be a party!"

If all goes well, the Dragon's flight computer will carry out a carefully timed sequence of rocket firings over the next two days to catch up with the station in its roughly circular 260-mile-high orbit, pulling up to a point about 30 feet from the lab complex early Tuesday.

At that point, the capsule will go into stationkeeping mode and the lab's robot arm, operated by European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, will lock onto a grapple fixture to complete the rendezvous. The arm then will pull the Dragon in for berthing at the Earth-facing port of the forward Harmony module.

The spacecraft is expected to remain attached to the station until around Oct. 18, returning to a Pacific Ocean splashdown packed with some 3,800 pounds of experiment samples, station components and other no longer needed gear.

This is SpaceX's fourth operational Dragon flight under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA that calls for at least 12 missions to deliver some 44,000 pounds of cargo to the space station. Orbital Sciences holds a $1.9 billion contract for eight flights to launch about 40,000 pounds of cargo. Both contracts were awarded in a bid to make up for the lost cargo capability of the space shuttle following its retirement in 2011.

The SpaceX CRS-4 flight comes just 14 days after the company successfully launched a commercial communications satellite for AsiaSa and just five days after winning a $2.6 billion contract from NASA to develop a piloted space taxi to ferry astronauts to and from the station.

Boeing is designing its own crew capsule under a separate $4.2 billion contract and NASA hopes both companies will be ready for flights to the station by 2017, ending reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

As it turns out, the next Soyuz to carry an American astronaut is scheduled for launch next Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Barry "Butch" Wilmore, Soyuz commander Alexander Samokutyaev and flight engineer Elena Serova plan to dock with the station six hours after launch. Standing by to welome them aboard will be Gerst, station commander Maxim Suraev and NASA flight engineer Reid Wiseman.

The Expedition 41 crew will face a busy month in October, unloading, re-packing and unberthing the Dragon capsule, capturing an Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo ship and carrying out three spacewalks, two staged by NASA and one by the Russians. Another Dragon supply ship is scheduled for launch in early December.

The cargo for the current CRS-4 mission includes about a month's supply of food, clothing, spare parts and a wide variety of experiment hardware and equipment. The gear includes IMAX camera equipment, exercise equipment, a small satellite that will be used for tests of micro thrusters, a nitrogen/oxygen recharge system for the station's airlock and a sensor that will be mounted on the Columbus module to monitor ocean winds.

Also on board: two batteries that are needed for the station's NASA spacesuits. Two more batteries will be launched aboard the Soyuz.

The 20 mice, the first live animals launched by SpaceX, are part of two investigations. One is intended to simply test the animal life support equipment and the other will study how muscle atrophies in weightlessness and the role of a specific protein that may reduce that degradation. The results could help astronauts on long-duration missions as well as elderly or bed-ridden patients on Earth.

One payload that has generated widespread interest is an experimental 3D printer provided by Made In Space, a California company working with NASA. Agency project manager Niki Werkheiser said 3D printers could play crucial roles in future missions by allowing crews to print replacement parts and other components.

"We'll be able to uplink the files from the ground directly to the printer," she said. "Made in Space has a laptop they can command from in their offices in California (and) we can command from the control center in Huntsville, Alabama, directly to the printer.

"So you can imagine how cool it will be to uplink or email a part to space instead of launching it," she said. "It's really a game changer."

3D printers work by building up three-dimensional objects layer by layer, following computer commands based on precise 3D modeling of the desired object.

"I think it's a certainty that NASA will reach the point of manufacturing replacement parts, manufacturing tools as needed and relying on those instead of, not in addition to, things that are brought from Earth," said Jeff Sheehy, senior technologist with NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate.

"If we're really going to set up shop on Mars, we really can't afford to bring everything we need for an indefinite amount of time. We may do that for the first mission, but we need to get to the point where we can make things that we need as we go."

© 2014 William Harwood/CBS News

SpaceX supply ship takes off with animals, critical cargo
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
September 21, 2014
SpaceX launched a Dragon supply ship packed with mice, an experimental 3D printer, a hurricane research instrument, and a bundle of crew provisions on a two-day pursuit of the International Space Station with a thunderous middle-of-the-night sendoff from Cape Canaveral on Sunday aboard a Falcon 9 rocket booster.

The Falcon 9 rocket streaks into a starry sky over Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX

Running a day late after Cape Canaveral was inundated with rain showers early Saturday, the experiment-laden Dragon spaceship lifted off at 1:52 a.m. EDT (0552 GMT) after late night clouds dissipated, clearing a route for the 208-foot-tall Falcon 9 launcher to fly into orbit.
A nine-engine first stage powered the Falcon 9 into a starry sky, generating 1.3 million pounds of ground-shaking thrust and an orange plume of rocket exhaust as the booster disappeared from view of spectators.
After finishing a nearly three-minute burn, the first stage fell away to begin a series of maneuvers to fly back to Earth, heading for a controlled splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean in a technical experiment to help SpaceX make its rockets reusable.
SpaceX has tried first stage flyback maneuvers on three previous launches, but Saturday's flight took off without landing legs, and officials predicted a low probability of the stage completing a successful water landing.
The Falcon 9's second stage took control to complete the primary task of Saturday's launch -- the deployment of the unmanned Dragon capsule on course to reach the space station Tuesday.
The Dragon spaceship separated from the launcher's second stage 10 minutes and 15 seconds after liftoff and extended its electricity-generating solar arrays a few minutes later.
SpaceX officials said the Dragon capsule was in good shape after the launch and ready to begin a series of thruster burns over the next two days to reach the space station with more than 5,100 pounds of supplies, experiments and provisions.
"Nothing like a good launch," said Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX's vice president of mission assurance and launch chief engineer. "It's just fantastic. We worked very hard yesterday and weather wasn't quite playing along and today everything was beautiful.
"From what I can tell, at first glance, everything was really perfect," Koenigsmann said.
European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst will take control of the space station's Canadian-built robotic arm to grapple the free-flying cargo carrier after it finishes a laser-guided final approach to the complex at around 1104 GMT (7:04 a.m. EDT) Tuesday.
The robot arm will maneuver the Dragon capsule to a berthing port on the space station's Harmony module, where the outpost's three residents will enter the supply ship's pressurized cabin to unload what's inside.
The cargo includes a transporter with 20 mice to probe how microgravity causes muscle atrophy, a 3D printer to demonstrate in-space component manufacturing, and a $26 million NASA instrument to measure winds over the world's oceans.
Astronauts will transfer the mice into two habitats aboard the space station, with 10 mice in each enclosure.
Half the mice are sponsored by NASA to test out the effectiveness of animal handling procedures in orbit. A pharmaceutical company will study tissue samples from the other mice to help develop muscle atrophy treatments, according to NASA.
Ten of the mice will return in mid-October aboard the Dragon spacecraft, and the others are due to come back to Earth in December.
Fruit flies were also launched inside the Dragon capsule to study behavioral changes during spaceflight.
A commercially-developed 3D printer, built by Silicon Valley startup Made in Space, is stowed aboard the Dragon spacecraft. It will be set up inside the space station to see if 3D printing is viable in microgravity.
Funded in a public-private partnership by Made in Space and NASA, the 3D printer is the first device of its kind to ever launch into space. Engineers on the ground will uplink commands to the printer, giving it a 3D model of an object to build out of a stock of plastic carried inside.
If it works, 3D printing could help enable future space missions to distant destinations like Mars.
"It's especially important when we consider human space exploration," said Niki Werkheiser, NASA's manager for the 3D printer project. "From day one, the supply chain has been very constrained. We have to launch every single thing we ever need from Earth, so being able to make what you need on orbit, when you need it, is a real game changer."
NASA's wind-watching ISS-RapidScat instrument is bolted inside the Dragon capsule's external trunk section. Scientists say the sensor will help predict the strengthening of hurricanes in the tropics by tracking winds.
Once Dragon arrives at the space station, the lab's Dextre robotic handyman will pull the RapidScat instrument from the capsule's mounting pallet and place it outside the European Space Agency's Columbus module.
Other gear to be delivered by SpaceX includes an experiment that could help improve the design of golf clubs, IMAX cameras, and two batteries to be installed into U.S. spacesuits ahead of a pair of spacewalks planned in October.
Sunday's launch kicked off SpaceX's fourth operational resupply run to the space station. NASA contracted with two companies, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., to send up supplies aboard privately-own space freighters after the retirement of the space shuttle.
SpaceX's $1.6 billion deal covers 12 cargo missions through the end of 2016. With Sunday's liftoff, SpaceX has launched four of the dozen flights.
Before Sunday's launch, Koenigsmann said the cargo flight -- known as CRS 4 -- is establishing a more regular "cargo taxi" service to the space station.
"The CRS 4 mission has become somewhat of a routine -- I would say a cautious routine -- because we have to be super careful that everything is reliable and working well and checked out and triple-checked again," Koenigsmann said before Sunday's launch.
NASA announced Tuesday it selected Boeing Co. and SpaceX to ferry astronauts between Earth and the space station in the next phase of the agency's commercial spaceflight initiative, aiming for crew flights to begin by the end of 2017.
The commercial cargo craft flown by SpaceX and Orbital Sciences are crucial for the delivery of science experiments to the space station. Sunday's liftoff is the fourth commercial resupply flight by the two companies this year, with two more missions on tap before the end of 2014 -- an Orbital flight in October and another SpaceX launch in December.
This is the first year SpaceX's Dragon and Orbital's Cygnus spaceships have both been entrusted by NASA to ferry up critical supplies to the complex.
"We've worked out a lot of bugs in the system, both on our side and on the vehicle processing, and both companies are learning along the way," said Dan Hartman, NASA's deputy space station program manager. "We're trying to keep our payload throughput up so we can support this increased cadence, but I think we're well on our way. We're looking forward to it quite honestly because stable access and stable return of our research is key."
SpaceX's Dragon capsule is the only craft capable of returning large amounts of research specimens and hardware to Earth. Russia's Soyuz crew transporter can bring back limited cargo with its three human passengers, and other logistics spacecraft are designed to burn up and dispose of trash during re-entry.
The craft will depart the space station in mid-October, fire its thrusters to descend back into the atmosphere, and parachute into the Pacific Ocean with nearly 4,000 pounds of cargo for retrieval by SpaceX's recovery team.
© 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.

SpaceX Falcon rocket blasts off from Florida
By Irene Klotz
CAPE CANAVERAL Fla (Reuters) - An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Sunday to deliver a cargo ship to the International Space Station for NASA.
The 208-foot (63-meter) tall booster, built and launched by privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, bolted off its seaside launch pad at 1:52 a.m. EDT/0552 GMT, slicing the night-time sky with a bright plume of light as it headed into orbit.
Ten minutes later, the Dragon cargo capsule perched on top of the rocket was released to begin a two-day journey to the space station, a $100 billion research complex that flies about 260 miles (420 km) above Earth.
The spaceship is loaded with more than 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg) of equipment, supplies and science experiments, including 20 live mice for medical experiments, a prototype 3-D printer and an instrument to monitor ocean wind speeds.
The mission, which was delayed one day by poor weather, is the fourth under the company's 12-flight $1.6 billion NASA contract for cargo delivery services.
View gallery

A Falcon 9 rocket is launched by Space Exploration Technologies on its fourth cargo resupply service …
Sunday's launch was the second in two weeks for California-based SpaceX, the fastest turnaround between missions since Falcon 9 rockets began flying in June 2010.
"We are ramping up for that launch rate, and actually even more than that," Hans Koenigsmann, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) vice president of mission assurance, told reporters at a prelaunch news conference.
The company has a backlog of nearly 50 launches, worth nearly $5 billion, on its manifest, said SpaceX spokesman John Taylor.
Last week, SpaceX won a second NASA contract, worth up to $2.6 billion, to upgrade and fly its Dragon capsules for astronauts – and potentially paying tourists as well. A crewed Dragon spaceship is targeted for a debut test flight in 2016.
NASA also awarded Boeing a $4.2 billion contract to develop and fly a second space taxi. The price difference is primarily the cost of the launcher. [ID:nL1N0RI2XY]
View gallery

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket streaks toward space from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in …
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets sell for about $61 million. Boeing plans to buy Atlas 5 rockets, which cost about $150 million. United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, manufactures and sells Atlas 5, which predominantly are used for U.S. military missions.
SpaceX, owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, is gunning for that business as well. A lawsuit is pending in federal court contesting the U.S. Air Force's latest non-competed award to United Launch Alliance.
So far, the company's Falcon 9 rockets have flown 13 times, all successfully.
Dragon is due to reach the space station at 7:04 a.m. EDT/1104 GMT on Tuesday.
(Editing by David Clarke)

Copyright © 2014 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

SpaceX cargo ship blasts off toward space station
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View photo
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon supply ship lifts off from the launch pad on a resupply mission to the International Space Station, on September 21, 2014 in Cape Canaveral, Florida (AFP Photo/Joe Raedle)
Washington (AFP) - SpaceX's unmanned Dragon cargo ship blasted off toward the International Space Station on Sunday, carrying a load of supplies and science experiments for the astronauts living there.
The spacecraft launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 1:52 am (0552 GMT).
"And Dragon is flying free, on its way to the International Space Station," NASA commentator George Diller said.
It is scheduled to arrive at the ISS early Tuesday. The space station's robotic arm is to reach out and grapple the spacecraft at 7:04 am (1104 GMT), Diller said.
The journey to the ISS is the fifth for SpaceX, and the fourth in a series of SpaceX's contracted supply missions with NASA.
The mission, known as CRS-4 was initially meant to take off Saturday but was postponed due to weather.
The supply ship is carrying 5,000 pounds (2,300 kilograms) of supplies, food and equipment -- including a 3D printer -- for the six-member crew at the orbiting outpost.
In 2010, SpaceX became the first private company to send a spacecraft to the ISS.
The company is run by Internet mogul Elon Musk, who accumulated his fortune by co-founding PayPal and also runs Tesla Motors.
Last week, SpaceX was awarded a $2 billion contract from NASA to continue developing its Dragon V2 vehicle with the goal of sending people to the space station as early as 2017.
Boeing won a larger NASA contract, more than $4 billion, for the development of its CST-10 crew vehicle.

Copyright © 2014 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.

SpaceX Launches Dragon Cargo Ship for NASA in 'Fantastic' Night Flight
By Megan Gannon, News Editor | September 21, 2014 02:30am ET

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket streaks toward space from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in this spectacular long-exposure view of the company's successful Dragon cargo ship launch toward the International Space Station for NASA on Sept. 21, 2014.
Credit: SpaceX View full size image
The private spaceflight company SpaceX lit up the night sky over Florida early Sunday (Sept. 21) with the spectacular launch of Dragon spacecraft packed with supplies — including the first 3D printer in space and a troop of 20 mice — for the International Space Station.
The unmanned Dragon space capsule launched into orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 1:52 a.m. EDT (0552 GMT). Ten minutes later, Dragon reached orbit and separated from the Falcon 9. It should reach the space station on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
"Nothing like a good launch — it's just fantastic," Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX's vice president of mission assurance, said during a post-launch briefing. "Everything was really perfect." [See photos from the SpaceX-4 Dragon mission]
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida with a science-packed Dragon spacecraft on the fourth NASA-contracted resupply mission for the International Space Station, Sept. 21, 2014.
Credit: collectSPACE.com/Robert Z. Pearlman
View full size image
Dragon is carrying about 2.5 tons of cargo to the space station for NASA. The mission is SpaceX's fourth of 12 delivery missions for the U.S. space agency under a $1.6 billion deal. Sunday's flawless launch occurred one day after rain and thick clouds forced SpaceX to delay the launch on early Saturday (Sept. 20).
But skies were clear and the stars were out during the pre-dawn launch on Sunday morning. Sam Scimemi, NASA's International Space Station director, told reporters that the Falcon 9 appeared to be soaring though the constellation Orion after it took off.
"It was a beautiful night," Scimemi said.
The SpaceX-4 mission to the ISS will carry aboard some unusual items. See how mice, 3d printers and more are riding into orbit in this Space.com infographic.
Credit: by Karl Tate, Infographics Artist
View full size image
Of Mice and more
Food, care packages and provisions for NASA's astronauts make up more than a third of the cargo onboard Dragon. But the spacecraft also has experiments and equipment that will eventually help scientists complete 255 research projects in total, according to NASA. In Dragon's trunk, there's an instrument dubbed RapidScat, which will be installed outside the space station to measure the speed and direction of ocean winds on Earth. Among the commercially funded experiments onboard Dragon is a materials-science test from the sports company Cobra Puma Golf designed to build a stronger golf club.
Dragon is also hauling the first space-grade 3D printer, built by Made in Space, which will test whether the on-the-spot manufacturing technology is viable without gravity.
The first critters picked to live in NASA's new Rodent Research Hardware System (shown here) come from a commonly used strain of inbred, black-colored lab mice known as C57 Black 6.
Credit: NASA
View full size image
Jeff Sheehy, senior technical officer of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, said it is " a certainty" that NASA will eventually rely on 3D-printed tools and replacement parts that are made in space instead of traditional equipment sent up from Earth.
"If we're really going to set up shop on Mars, we have to get there," Sheehy told reports during a briefing Friday morning. "We really can't afford to bring everything we need."
A new X-ray machine called the Bone Densitometer, developed by Techshot, will arrive at the space station aboard Dragon. The system is designed to measure bone density loss — but not in humans. Instead, it will be used to examine mice.
The 20 female mice inside Dragon will live inside NASA's new Rodent Research Hardware System to be installed on the space station. Before the launch, scientists said the mice would be just fine during the 10-minute trip to low-Earth orbit, even without cushy seats.
"They move to the bottom of the cage and they hang tight until the ride is over," said Ruth Globus, a project scientist for the new rodent habitat at Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
Reusable rocket test
After launch, SpaceX performed a reusability test with the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket. After separation, the booster reignited out over the Atlantic Ocean and went through a couple burns to bring it down into the water gently. SpaceX officials said they didn't expect to recover the first stage nor did they anticipate they would be able to see much of the nighttime test.
SpaceX's goal had been to recover a Falcon 9 first stage with a touchdown on land by the end of 2014. But Koenigsmann said that type of demonstration was unlikely to happen during the next mission.
"We're working actively with range safety to make this safe and also reliable in terms of public safety," Koenigsmann told reporters Friday.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has long-term ambitions to develop a fully reusable rocket will lower the cost of launching vehicles into space — and eventually enable travel to Mars.

Four weeks at the space station
If all goes according to plan, Dragon will perform a series of carefully timed thruster firings to catch up to the space station on the morning of Tuesday (Sept. 23). Astronauts will use the space station's robotic arm to grab Dragon and attach it to a docking port.
Dragon will spend about four weeks at the space lab to allow astronauts to unload the new cargo and refill the capsule with about 3,800 lbs. (1,723 kg) experiments and other equipment to be returned to Earth.
Orbital Sciences is the only other private American company besides SpaceX that NASA has hired to fly unmanned resupply missions to the space station. The Dulles, Virginia-based company has a $1.9-billion contract to fly eight missions total using its own Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rockets. Orbital Sciences launched its second official delivery flight to the space station in July, with its next mission set for October.
Unlike Orbital Sciences' disposable spacecraft, which burn up in Earth's atmosphere at the end of their mission, Dragon has a heat shield that protects it from the brutal re-entry. About five and a half hours after Dragon leaves the space station in mid-October, it will deploy its parachutes and splash down off the coast of Baja California. A recovery boat will scoop the capsule out of the Pacific Ocean. Eventually, SpaceX also wants its Dragon capsules to make soft landings on the ground.
Just this week, the Hawthorne, California-based spaceflight company was hired to help keep the space station fully staffed as well.
SpaceX won $2.6 billion of NASA's Commercial Crew Transportation Capability award to launch American astronauts to the space station from U.S. soil by 2017 using a modified, manned version of Dragon. NASA, which announced the deal Tuesday (Sept. 16), gave Boeing a $4.2 billion slice of the award to provide the same space-taxi service with its CST-100 capsule. The United States lost the capability to send its own astronauts into space when NASA retired the space shuttle program in 2011.
"This is kind of a crazy busy week for us here at NASA," Ellen Stofan, NASA's chief scientist, told reporters Friday (Sept. 19).
In addition to the commercial crew announcement and the SpaceX launch, NASA is also expecting its Mars-bound spacecraft MAVEN to enter orbit around the Red Planet late Sunday night.

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