SpaceX launches Dragon cargo spacecraft to ISS with new Falcon 9 rocket

SpaceX sent the latest cargo mission for NASA to the International Space Station on June 3, with Elon Musk’s company completing its 17th launch this year. The Falcon 9 rocket took off at 1:29pm EDT from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission, called CRS-22, has SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft carrying more than 7,300 pounds of research and supplies to the ISS.

This is the fifth capsule SpaceX has sent to ISS in the last 12 months, SpaceX director of Dragon mission management Sarah Walker noted in a media briefing. It is also the first launch of the year on a new Falcon 9 rocket booster. The rocket launch was right on schedule despite the threat of storm clouds from the south and east.

The first stage separated as planned and touched down on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean eight minutes after launch. The second stage, which takes the capsule to orbit, separated 12 minutes after launch and now the spacecraft is expected to dock with the ISS on Saturday. The Falcon 9 Rocket launch vehicle is sending more than 7,300 pounds of research materials, supplies and hardware, including new solar arrays, to the ISS crew. 

Water bears, squid in space 

Dragon is carrying a number of research experiments to be conducted on the ISS, including oral bacteria to test germ growth with Colgate toothpaste, 5,000 tardigrades dubbed as 'water bears’, 28 glow-in-the-dark baby squids, Tardigrades, Butterfly IQ Ultrasound and new solar panels. The capsule is also delivering fresh food, including apples, navel oranges, lemons and avocados. This Cargo Dragon spacecraft is expected to return to Earth in July, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida with 5,300 pounds of experiments and cargo.

Meanwhile, NASA informed that the experiments aboard include studying how water bears tolerate space, whether microgravity affects symbiotic relationships, analyzing the formation of kidney stones, and more. It added that studying how space travel affects them will help scientists in understanding the impact of space travel on humans and coming up with countermeasures against the adverse effects of microgravity. The scientists will be studying how their relationship is affected by space travel, which will guide them in mitigating the adverse effects on human’s symbiotic relationships with bacteria that live in our bodies. 

(Image: AP/SpaceX)